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!

Mid-Summer Evaluation

I am already over halfway through my summer internship. Madness! I have learned so much these past five weeks. My legal research and writing has improved, I know a ton more about litigation, and I am familiar with two whole new areas of law--housing discrimination and predatory lending! I've interacted with some clients, sat in on court, mediations, and depositions, and gotten a ton of training. FHLP was the perfect choice for this summer, and I feel very blessed.

I thought that this would be a good time to check in on how my summer goals are going.

Read for pleasure. I am pleased to say that I have indeed been reading, and not just court cases. I am currently reading several books on my own: Reading the OED by Ammon Shea, Traveling with Pomegranates by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor, and The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything by Fr. James Martin. I am also participating in Still Thinking, the legendary virtual book club founded by CC this summer. We recently finished Machiavelli's The Prince, and are now starting Zadie Smith's On Beauty. (There is still time to join us for On Beauty!)

Begin to learn Spanish. I haven't been following the pace that I set for myself at the beginning of the summer, but I have completed six lessons, including greetings, restaurant basics, going places, and phone conversations. I want to go faster, but the lessons are several hours long each, and I am often not inclined to start one at the end of the day. I am also concerned about retention, so I don't want to go too fast. I will try harder to sit down and do lessons regularly.

Research and apply for fellowships and clerkships for after graduation. Working on it! There have been a few interesting opportunities so far... We'll see what happens.

Write On journal competition grading. I just finished judging my 20 case comments this evening, as the grades are due tomorrow. It was more work than I anticipated, but an interesting (and confidential) topic. Reading things written by 1Ls reminds me of how far I've come in my own legal writing this past year.

Spend quality time with friends, preferably on short Bay Area adventures. My most recent adventure was to Lovejoy's Tea Room in San Francisco for Alissa's birthday tea party! I'm not a big tea drinker--coffee is my love--but this was delicious and delightful. I drank an entire pot of Earl Grey tea with cream and sugar, which I enjoyed with a cucumber and cream cheese sandwich, an asparagus hummus sandwich, coleslaw, organic spring greens, a scone with preserves and double Devon cream, and a shortbread cookie. Also this weekend, I went with my family to see the SF Orchestra play at the Shoreline with fireworks for the Fourth of July, which was lovely. There have been other adventures already chronicled in this blog this summer, and there are more to come, including seeing Paul McCartney play at AT&T park this coming weekend, and flying to Portland to see my dearest Morgan get married!

Visit my grandmother as often as possible. I've seen my Nana at least once a week this summer, which is great. She is always so encouraging and sweet to me.

So, overall, I'm doing pretty well on my summer goals, though I could pick up the pace on a couple of my endeavors. I'm already getting excited about the fall, because we got back our results from course registration for next year! I'm still sorting out what to add and drop, but here are some of the classes in my probable future for the fall: International Labor & Employment, the Law of War, the Practicing Lawyer & the Poor, and Public Interest Advocacy. I will also be receiving credit for my externship with the Arlington Immigration Court, and for the Georgetown Law Human Rights Institute Fact-Finding Mission. Actually, I'm already doing work for the fact-finding mission this summer, soliciting information from knowledgeable folks about the safe repatriation of persons with mental disabilities. Busy busy busy, but that's how I like it. I'm very excited about being done with law school in a year, but I'm also trying to slow down and enjoy this final year of school before I take the bar and enter the "real world" on a full-time basis.

Book Club

For those of you interested in participating in the book club that Cindy and I are orchestrating, please head on over to CC's blog post for more information! In short, part one of the book club will be an online discussion through the comments section of the blog post, and part two will be a Skype conference call, date and time to be determined based on availability. I hope you can join us for a lively conversation about Machiavelli's The Prince, and other books to follow!

Two Rules

1. Avoid food poisoning.
2. If you get food poisoning, let your mommy take care of you.

I managed to follow Rule No. 1 for the first 23 years, 9 months, and 20 days of my life (i.e., until very early Monday morning).  Since then, I've been following Rule No. 2, which has made the violation of Rule No. 1 far more bearable.  I have had to miss three days of my internship--and, life in general, for that matter--but now I am feeling well enough to return to work, and to the active practice of Rule No. 1, tomorrow.

Machiavelli

"The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous." 

As Cindy recently mentioned,* we are starting up a summer book club! (When I say we, I mean Cindy had a brilliant idea, and I jumped on the bandwagon.) We're going to facilitate a lovely discussion via the interwebs somehow. I really think you should join our book club. I mean, you're always wishing you read more now that you're out of undergrad, right? And, it's more stimulating when you can discuss the book with others. And, it provides some accountability. And, you have something smart to say when people ask what you did last weekend. Heck, maybe some attractive stranger on the train will see you reading this month's book, and strike up a conversation with you! So, yeah, you should join our book club.

Our first book on the docket is Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince. Now, I know what you're thinking--that sounds boring, difficult, and/or just plain old. But, just because it's not some fluffy recent work of fiction endorsed by Oprah, it does not mean that we can't have some fun with it!

In his day (i.e., the early 16th century), Machiavelli "shocked Europe" with the publication of The Prince. The book advocates for "ruthless tactics for gaining absolute power" and for the "abandonment of conventional morality." Oh, I have your attention, now do I? Well, consider this: haven't you always wondered about the etymology of the word Machiavellian? It means cunning, scheming and unscrupulous, especially in politics or advancing one's career. Wouldn't it be interesting to debate the merits of realpolitik, in a world that, daily, seems to reaffirm the tragic maxim, "nice guys always finish last"? At what point do we sacrifice compassion in the pursuit of pragmatism? For Machiavelli, living in a politically turbulent Florence, the answer was clear: the greatest morality is a stable state.

If you're interested in participating in our discussion, please let me or Cindy know! We've set a tentative deadline to read The Prince by June 23rd. It's not very long: my copy of the Penguin edition is 84 pages. And, it's only $6 at the bookstore, and readily available at your neighborhood library. So, join us!

*N.B. - I really do love "Amanda Esq." as a moniker. Way to bring that back into the lexicon, Cindy.

Where's the Soup?

My internship with the Fair Housing Law Project (hereinafter FHLP, pronounced "flip") is going very well. There are 13 of us law clerks, so they have a formal training program for us, which is awesome. So far, I've learned about housing discrimination, predatory mortgage lending, reasonable accommodations of persons with disabilities, legal ethics, interviewing clients, landlord-tenant law, and working with clients with mental disabilities. Also, I have had opportunities to sit in on a client interview, a deposition, a mediation, staff meetings, conference calls, and a meeting of the Northern California Fair Housing Coalition (NCFHC). As much as I've loved my past internships, it's nice to be at a much larger organization (~50 attorneys) with more resources. I am very impressed with the work that the Law Foundation does, and am so glad to be a part of it this summer.

The nice thing about the summertime is that I don't have homework, so there is more free time for reading, studying Spanish, and--wait, that sounds a lot like homework. Whoops. Well, I've also done a ton of fun things in the past couple of weeks, including attending the Sunnyvale Art & Wine Festival, battling Alan in Scrabble, seeing Alissa before the NCFHC meeting in SF, checking out the San Jose Music in the Park with Robert, and enjoying happy hour with my fellow law clerks at a pizza place across the street from San Jose City Hall.

On Saturday, Robert, Tiffany and I took a trip to San Francisco. We had planned this out ages in advance, to take advantage of San Francisco's Dine About Town, by making reservations at Campton Place. Before dinner, we went to the Legion of Honor. We didn't spent too much time there, because we were trapped in traffic on 19th for ages, but I enjoyed the exhibition on Impressionist Paris. I also liked that we were there during an organ concert, which could be heard throughout the museum. I always enjoy the architecture of the building, a three-quarters scale imitation of the Palais de la Légion d'Honneur in Paris. (Photo courtesy of Tiffany.)

After the museum, we walked around Lincoln Park for a little while, and then made our way downtown. We were early for our reservation, so we had a drink in the bar area of the restaurant. I had a lovely riesling, Kabinett Von Hovel Oberemmeler Hutte Mosel 2002, which tasted like green apples. The restaurant itself has a lovely ambiance, with low lighting, high ceilings, and a beautiful modern chandelier. They had delightful, warm bread to start the meal, followed by a foam palate cleanser that tasted of peas and limes.

For my first course, I had roasted carrot soup with fine herbs and hazelnuts. Robert and I were rather bewildered when the waiters brought out very large bowls containing only a small pile of peas and nuts. We eyed each other nervously, silently asking, "Where's the soup?!" Then, more waiters bustled out, carrying little pitchers, with which they proceeded to pour the soup around our little piles of peas. I suppose it was so as to prevent our peas from getting soggy?

All three of us ordered the same main course: slow cooked flat iron steak with truffled Yukon, savoy spinach and veal jus. I ordered my steak medium well, while Robert and Tiffany went with the chef-recommended medium rare. They may have made the better choice; while my steak was delicious (especially the seasonings in the rub), it could have been juicier. The potatoes and spinach complemented the flavors of the steak nicely.

For dessert, we all had chocolate parfait with vanilla cream and almond praline. The rectangular chocolate parfait was in the center of the plate, while the cream was presented in little, cloud-like dollops placed asymmetrically around the plate. The almond praline was crushed up and sprinkled throughout. The heaviness of the chocolate parfait was offset by the lightness of the cream. While I appreciated the presentation, I will confess that I was a bit concerned about my ability to maintain a proper parfait-to-cream ratio as I ate it; indeed, my fears were confirmed when there was not quite enough cream for the concluding bites of my parfait.

Overall, I rather enjoyed the dinner. What most appealed to me about it was the idea of dinner as an event, carefully choreographed by a large waitstaff with an eye for finesse. There were little touches throughout, such as providing me and Tiffany with little cushions upon which to place our purses (in lieu of the floor or back of our chairs). The waiters were all attentive and courteous.

One thing I can say with confidence: I'm pretty sure, among all of the middle-aged patrons at the restaurant, we were the only diners who went out clubbing afterward. I had never officially been to a dance club, so Robert and Tiffany took me to Bootie (as in pirate booty). I wasn't sure that I'd enjoy clubbing, as I don't like "clubbing music," but Bootie plays music to which I would actually be willing to listen. Specifically, they are known for their mashup bootlegs, which is where "the vocal track of one song is mixed over the instrumentation of another." (E.g., Come See About Down - Jay Sean vs. The Supremes.)

In addition to a DJ playing mashups, they also had a fantastic house band, Smash-Up Derby. The band was my favorite part of the night, and I want to go back and see them play again. The other thing I liked about Bootie was the unassuming nature of the crowd; as Robert observed, our fellow dancers just wanted to have fun. I was glad they weren't really "cool" people taking themselves too seriously, because that's no fun, and kind of intimidating. All told, it was a lovely afternoon and evening in the company of good friends.

P.S. - How are we already halfway through June? I'm completely flummoxed.