Summer of 2006, pt.1

Now that I have been done with exams for a couple of weeks, and finished the journal competition last week, it is a good feeling to reclaim things which I had put on hold around when things got busy down in Columbus. I am at home in Akron now, and it is great to see my family and friends again. I will have a couple weeks off to talk about things besides exams, papers, and all of the trappings of school, even though I know everyone will miss those kind of posts.

Yesterday, I went to a carnival up in Chagrin Falls, near Cleveland, with a couple of friends from Akron U. Most of the things there were geared toward kids, but we got to watch a concert by a really good band that covered the Beatles. They played basically any song you can think of, ending on "Hey Jude." It was really crowded, though-wall to wall people, and at some times the crowd was so big that you couldn't even turn around or go in another direction. I think the entire town was there, at one point or another.

It was a beautiful night, though-hot, but sunny, and we sat in the shade, since the concert was held under a big tent. I walked down the fairway for a while, and I was hungry enough to get a sausage sandwich or piece of pizza, but I didn't want to pay $6, so I ended up with peanuts and water at the gas station later. I guess cutting down on eating kind of got forced upon me. I did have some corn on the cob, though-I can't pass up good corn.

I thought it was funny to go by the tents where all the political candidates were camped out-we went by the Republican Party tent and got "Blackwell for Governor" stickers. I noticed that there was a huge crowd near the Republican tent, but no one was even sitting in the Democrats' booth. I wonder if that means anything about whether we'll be talking about Governor Ted Strickland or Senator Sherrod Brown (that's a whole other post and a lot of angry comments).

By the way, Chagrin Falls is a nice little town. I had never been there before yesterday, and it was the kind of place I hope to settle down in someday, maybe after I retire. I'll go wherever my work leads me, but I have always been a small-town kind of person.

After we left, I went over to my friend Kristin's house and watched "Walk the Line", the movie about the life of Johnny Cash, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, and then drove home.

So it sounds like a pretty normal day, except for the first time probably since I moved to Columbus, I didn't even think about law school. Not for one minute, for several hours. I am thinking a lot about the Blackstone these days-I have a feeling this summer is going to change, shape, and redefine the focus and direction of my life for many years to come. No, for once I stopped thinking about the pressure I have been under, whether I am going to get on to the Ohio State Law Journal, whether I am going to have the grades for on-campus interviewing in the fall, and all the other things I need to learn to let go of and trust God on.

And it was a great feeling.

I have two weeks left before I pack my suitcase and travel to Phoenix for Phase I of the Blackstone Fellowship. I will be posting throughout the summer, as always, but it may get sporadic after the 11th, depending on Internet access and time constraints while I am gone. For the next two weeks, I plan to get my assigned reading done, go swimming at my brother's house, get a sun tan, and basically relax for what will probably be the last time until after I take the bar exam about 26 months from now. I say, bring it on.

On Engaging

This is the third post in which I will discuss my goals for 2006. Here, I will cover my two main social goals for this year, to get in better physical shape and better balance my law school activities to have more social interaction with others.

1) Getting in better shape will improve my life from a number of angles. First, losing some weight will give me more endurance for studying. I will be able to put in longer days and have more stamina for late-night study sessions and the demanding schedule with which I will be faced in the fall. Second, the extent to which I am in shape has spiritual consequences. If I work out frequently, I will sleep better, have more energy, and be better prepared for my labors, and for everyday ministry on the Lord's behalf.

How have I been doing in working towards this goal? I am in better shape than at the beginning of the semester, and have lost some weight, but there is still a long way to go. I am optimistic that this summer will give me the opportunity to get in even better shape for the challenges facing me this fall. When I get back to school in August, I plan to do a better job of getting to the gym regularly to exercise, hopefully with some classmates.

2) The most important way to have more social interaction with others is to get more active and plugged into a church community. I have been attending a young adult service at a local church on Sunday nights, and found a small group to attend on Friday nights, but I plan to really get active in the church community in the fall.

In addition to the volunteer work I started this semester at a local legal clinic, I would like to find a way to volunteer through a church activity at least once a week (maybe in a non law-related activity such as a soup kitchen). I need to do this to keep a sense of perspective about the world and interact with people outside of a law school or law-related setting. Ultimately volunteering will make me a better person and a more mature Christian, by reminding me who is the Source of life and opportunity.

On Drawing Nearer to God

Tonight, I will write about my spiritual goals for 2006, and my connection with God now that the first year of law school is drawing to a close. The second post was delayed due to exams.

I have had three fundamental spiritual goals this year: get more involved with church and serving others, increase my daily communication with God, and work on godliness.

1) Probably the best thing I can do to help increase my involvement with church is to do a better job of scheduling. In the fall, I plan to try and attend church, or Bible study, twice a week-the regular Sunday service, and then I would like to find a small group where I can become a regular and get to know other Christians my age with whom I can grow and have fellowship.

As of now, I am planning to continue with a small group at Central Vineyard, a local church I discovered recently. I have only been able to go once so far because of exams, but I am looking forward to getting to know everyone.

Actually, my church attendance is tied into one of my professional goals-doing a better job of staying up to date on my outlines throughout the semester. If I can do this, I will have more time available for Sunday church and Bible study in November, when final exams and the App Ad oral argument are closing in.

I also plan to find more time to serve others, law-related or not. This may include using my knowledge as a law student to serve through a legal clinic, or I may volunteer through the Salvation Army or a local church or organization. I am going to continue what I am doing now, and work to do even more.

2) I have made progress on my prayer life, but want to continue improving. The main thing I want to focus on for the rest of the year is being more diligent about praying in the morning. I need to make it a habit-get up, then pray before breakfast. Even better, if I can establish this as a matter of course each morning, I can start having my devotional time in the morning instead of evening, which will make it easier to remember and apply to my daily activities. Right now, I only manage morning prayer about once or twice a week.

For the rest of the year, I am going to try reading through one or two books of the Bible a month-not necessarily in order, but all of them eventually. A few days ago, I started off by reading the first chapter of Mark. After I finish Mark, I will read Jeremiah.

3) The last goal encompasses a series of changes I need to make, and continue to make, to draw closer to the Lord. Here are a few:

Better stress management: I am going to start enjoying law school, and not let fear and anxiety get the best of me anymore. In general, be more proactive, since "the righteous are bold as a lion" (Proverbs 28:1 KJV).

Develop hobbies and interests: pursue things like Civil War history, singing, and writing poetry. This will give me a more positive attitude generally, and make connections with others.

More wisdom and shrewdness: one mistake I made this year was getting wrapped up in a lot of religious/political debates I should have, in retrospect, avoided. I hope I can reconcile with the people I have treated wrongly, and help make up for some of the mistakes I made this year. From now on, I plan to be much more discerning in what I say and how I act.

These are some of the spiritual goals I intend to pursue this year. I will write again soon, on my social goals for 2006, and what I intend to improve on and accomplish.

The Battle of Gettysburg

Tonight, I had the chance to watch the movie "Gettysburg" for the first time in a few years. It tells the complete story of the battle, based on Michael Shaara's "The Killer Angels." Great movie-it stars Martin Sheen (Robert E. Lee), Tom Berenger (Gen. Longstreet), and Sam Elliott (Gen. Buford, the Union cavalry commander). I first saw it at the theater when it came out, back in 1993. All I can remember was watching the part towards the center of the movie, the engagement at Little Round Top with Col. Joshua Chamberlain (played by Jeff Daniels), and the screen went dark. We thought it was over, until we saw the word "Intermission" on the screen.

I am going to be a Civil War reenactor after I graduate law school. I have always been a history buff, ever since I can remember. The first time I saw a reenactment, I was at Hale Farm, near Akron. I was little, maybe about 8 or 9, but I was taken by the uniforms, the lines of troops, and the loud artillery. I knew when I got older that this was going to be something I could really sink my teeth into, where I could find a hobby that I could do the rest of my life.

I have been to some websites on reenacting, and read up on it, and it seems like if you want to be a reenactor, you can choose to be as committed or as part-time as you like. It all depends on the unit you join. After I graduate, I plan to start by going to a couple of events, to observe, maybe talk to some reenactors, and learn how everything is done. The nice thing is that they will probably be able to use me. I plan to be a Union soldier, and from what I hear, most reenactors want to be Confederates.

After that, I plan to either find a unit to join, or sign up for events as my schedule allows, depending on how it is done and how much commitment is required. Realistically I will probably look to go to events a couple of times a year, and being a litigator, my schedule will vary depending on the demands with which I am faced under the litigation process. So signing up ahead of time will be difficult, but I will see what happens.

On a related note, I hope to visit some more battlefields soon. A few summers ago, I took a trip down to Virginia, and visited Fredericksburg. I stood on Marye's Heights, where the Confederate army was dug in against the Union advance. Looking down at the Rappahannock River, you can see why the Union army got slaughtered. It's a steep hill, and at the time there was almost no tree cover-the bluecoats were like sitting ducks. Today it's a busy downtown area with trees and buildings everywhere, but the trenches and stone wall are still there. And there is a house near the wall that is still standing-and riddled with bullet holes from guns fired in 1862.

I also got to visit Chancellorsville, the Wilderness battlefield, and New Market in the Shenandoah Valley. The saddest thing I saw was the modern encroachment. I realize that not every square inch can be preserved, but we ate at a McDonald's at Chancellorsville where some Union or Confederate soldier might have been shot or bayoneted 130 years ago. It's inspiring to me, as someone who loves history, to walk fields where men fought and died to keep this country together. I hope we can keep at least some of these battlefields preserved, so my children's children can see them unspoiled, and remember what happened all those years ago. I know if I ever hold office, there will be no one who supports preservation more.

And I am planning on going back to Gettysburg. Watching the movie makes me want to see it all again, and I am planning on getting over there sometime, maybe after I graduate.

Exams: In-Class or Take-Home?

Either way, not an easy time.

This past week, we had finals in two of our classes, Constitutional Law on Monday, and Legislation on Thursday. For both classes, we went to pick up the exam at 9:00-9:30 in the morning, and it was due about 24 hours later. This was my first time dealing with the take-home format in law school, so I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. Before the first exam, I thought we would have time for a reasonable schedule-finish the exam by 11 P.M. or so, in time to get a decent night's sleep and proofread in the morning before turning in.

It did not work that way. The Con Law exam was more of a challenge than Legislation, but both were round-the-clock commitments. For a take-home, you have to spend more time making sure all sources were used, all arguments were made perfectly, and the answers were pared down to fit a specified word limit. Most of us in the class took a few breaks during the day, and I came to regret it. Even hour-long breaks for lunch and dinner led to a marathon session of typing and proofreading, interspersed with 5-10 minute spurts of hand-wringing over whether I was going to get the whole thing done on time.

Legislation was not quite 24 hours-I got a decent night's sleep before getting up an hour early to proofread before turning in. Contrary to what I expected, the Con Law exam actually took longer to write, even though the Legislation exam had longer essays and a higher word limit. I think ultimately, the time spent on a take-home depends on the number of parts, or questions (3 for Con Law, 2 for Legislation). This means less time spent issue-spotting and plotting out the answer, incidental to how much time is actually spent writing.

It was one of those sessions where you simultaneously wonder what in the world you're doing in law school, wish you could do more to show how much you know, and yet feel a real sense of pride in knowing you're one step closer to being a lawyer. As tough as pulling an all-nighter is, and as tired as I was the next day, I wouldn't trade it for anything. Easy is boring.

We have one exam left, Property on Tuesday morning. Back to the in-class format. I like the amount of time we could spend proofreading and sharpening our answers for the take-home exams, but it will be nice to finish in only two and a half hours.

Two frantic, "ohmygoshwhatistheanswerIneedtohurryandwrite" hours.

It wouldn't be law school without them.

New Look

I am making a few changes to the blog to help make posts easier to access, and provide more information for visitors, in addition to the new look.

From now on, I will try to categorize posts by title:
- "Legal News": any posts having to do with law-related stories or topics that are not directly related to classes.
- "On (topic)": any posts relating to the Christian life and law school.
- "Reading: (book title)": book reviews.

These are the only categories right now, unless I need to add others. Also, I added some links to sites of interest (and importance to me), such as the Alliance Defense Fund and the Christian Legal Society. I will be interning as part of the Blackstone Legal Fellowship with the ADF this summer, and I will be president of the Christian Legal Society at the Moritz College of Law for the 2006-2007 year. The last link is to a list of law student blogs, which includes this one.

Check back soon for more posts.