It has been a long week. I know it has been a long time between posts, but I have been swept up in getting back to Ohio, back in the swing of things, and involved with acc-checking for the law journal. So here are some updates on things from Columbus, and next week I should have things in order enough to start book reviews, legal news, etc. again.
- Most of my time this past week has been spent either on the "acc-check", or accuracy check, for the law journal I am on, or on interviewing with firms for early OCI, or on-campus interviewing. The interviews generally went pretty well. I interviewed with four great law firms, two in Cincinnati and two in Toledo, and hopefully I will hear from them again within a few weeks.
- My last interview was on Wednesday, so most of the week was spent in the law library, and various other places, performing an acc-check on a portion of an article I was assigned. For those of you reading this who are not yet in law school, or in your first year, try to get on a law journal or law review at your school (not that I will be the only one to give you that advice). It's one of the best resume-builders you can have, and it's a learning experience that will help make you a better lawyer after you graduate.
Case in point...the article I acc-checked dealt with a narrow issue in patent law, which is traditionally an area I don't know much about. But I was able to get at least a basic grounding in it just by proofreading an article written by a law professor who knows the subject well. Even if you're not planning to practice in that specialized an area of law, it's a good idea to know as much as you can about any subject, the more the better. To quote one of my first-year professors, "the law is a seamless web," and you would be surprised at how much interrelatedness there is between subjects that would seem to be far apart.
It's true, being on a journal or law review involves a lot of work. I put in a substantial amount of time on the assignment (about as much as a part-time work week). But it's like any other story or rumor you hear-a grain of truth wrapped in a big ball of exaggeration. The truth is, I enjoyed different aspects of the acc-check, such as proofreading the article and checking the accuracy of quotations, because I have always had a good eye for editing. In high school, I worked in my school's Writing Lab, proofreading papers for the freshman and sophomore English Composition students, and it was always fulfilling to me to help people improve their grades by helping them with grammar and style. I enjoyed the acc-check because it took me back to the good old days, if only temporarily. I can tell I am going to enjoy it, and the work is well worth the experience.
- I am going to have one last "summer of 2006" post sometime next week, probably Monday or Tuesday (but no guarantees because of how hectic things are right now), where I will discuss the Blackstone and the Phase III experiences in more detail.
- Other than the journal work and interviews, not much else of note to report this week. Things will start to get back on a normal pace next week, since classes start Tuesday, but at least I have this weekend, one more weekend of freedom before it's back to the classroom.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Monday, August 07, 2006
Summer of 2006, pt. 10
Now back in Phoenix for Phase III:
- I showed my devotion to country music today. We had a talent show tonight, the Fellowship Follies, that had just about everything. The highlights for me were a tuxedo-clad harmonica player, a performance of the "who's on first" routine by Abbott and Costello, and a hilarious video some of the interns put together about their experience in Dallas, a parody of "The Real World." But first prize goes to my rendition of Toby Keith's "How Do You Like Me Now" that definitely brought down the house.
I sing loudly. I couldn't find the karaoke tape in Phoenix, so I just bought the CD and sang over it. At least one person told me afterwards that they never heard the vocals from the CD. That means I still have it-the booming bass from high school choir and madrigals.
It seems like the older I get, the less I listen to new music. Some of it I like (the exceptions to this rule are Christian and country), but most of it just isn't as good. I started out with Tears For Fears and Modern English from the 80's, and now I listen to classic country, 70's, and Motown. Eventually I am going to be listening to those old hand-cranked record players (Victrollas maybe, but I'm not sure what they're called) and tape recording a bard.
- Reading wise, I just started reading "The Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan yesterday. It might take a week or two to get through it, but I will have a post on it soon. The books in the reading queue now are, in this order: "The Myth of a Christian America" by Rev. Gregory Boyd (not agreeing, but I will read it to address the arguments made by the other side). Ron Chernow's biography on Alexander Hamilton, and then I plan to begin reading Blackstone's "Commentaries." Instead of reviewing Blackstone, I will try to weave summaries into my general posts.
- Journal orientation began today, 1,800 miles from where I am now. I read the style guide today to get caught up on the editing work we will be doing this year, so I know a little more about the gargantuan editing assignment (and gargantuan to-do list) that will be waiting for me when I get back to Columbus.
- We haven't gotten into the lecture portion of Phase III yet, but it's supposed to be fantastic, with many prominent members of the legal community coming in to present for us. Many of the presentations will involve building personal and professional relationships-how to get a clerkship, how to become a Blackstone Fellow, and so on. More as the week unfolds.
- I showed my devotion to country music today. We had a talent show tonight, the Fellowship Follies, that had just about everything. The highlights for me were a tuxedo-clad harmonica player, a performance of the "who's on first" routine by Abbott and Costello, and a hilarious video some of the interns put together about their experience in Dallas, a parody of "The Real World." But first prize goes to my rendition of Toby Keith's "How Do You Like Me Now" that definitely brought down the house.
I sing loudly. I couldn't find the karaoke tape in Phoenix, so I just bought the CD and sang over it. At least one person told me afterwards that they never heard the vocals from the CD. That means I still have it-the booming bass from high school choir and madrigals.
It seems like the older I get, the less I listen to new music. Some of it I like (the exceptions to this rule are Christian and country), but most of it just isn't as good. I started out with Tears For Fears and Modern English from the 80's, and now I listen to classic country, 70's, and Motown. Eventually I am going to be listening to those old hand-cranked record players (Victrollas maybe, but I'm not sure what they're called) and tape recording a bard.
- Reading wise, I just started reading "The Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan yesterday. It might take a week or two to get through it, but I will have a post on it soon. The books in the reading queue now are, in this order: "The Myth of a Christian America" by Rev. Gregory Boyd (not agreeing, but I will read it to address the arguments made by the other side). Ron Chernow's biography on Alexander Hamilton, and then I plan to begin reading Blackstone's "Commentaries." Instead of reviewing Blackstone, I will try to weave summaries into my general posts.
- Journal orientation began today, 1,800 miles from where I am now. I read the style guide today to get caught up on the editing work we will be doing this year, so I know a little more about the gargantuan editing assignment (and gargantuan to-do list) that will be waiting for me when I get back to Columbus.
- We haven't gotten into the lecture portion of Phase III yet, but it's supposed to be fantastic, with many prominent members of the legal community coming in to present for us. Many of the presentations will involve building personal and professional relationships-how to get a clerkship, how to become a Blackstone Fellow, and so on. More as the week unfolds.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Reading: "Alexander Hamilton: American"
I am going to have to go back on what I said in an earlier post. I originally planned to read Richard Brookhiser’s and Ron Chernow’s biographies and review them in one post. Unfortunately, tonight is my last night in Cincinnati, with my copy of Brookhiser’s book. So I will review them separately.
Brookhiser’s “Alexander Hamilton, American” is a detailed portrait of the Founding Father, bringing together each of the stages of his life-his childhood in St. Croix, his arrival in America and service in the Continental Army, and his political (and often legal) conflicts-in psychological and philosophical terms. Brookhiser has an interesting way of putting the biography together, by linking together the various influences on his life to paint a picture of someone whom one might say was an intellectual more than a politician, and a Platonic philosopher-king more than a general. In this way, I believe that Brookhiser’s biography stands not just as a portrait of Hamilton, but of American society itself at the time. Many of those same ideas, those same patterns of thinking, influence us as much as they did our forefathers over 200 years ago. Some thoughts I had about one specific passage:
“The inspired leader can tell a man something he did not know about himself: that he is brave, that he is willing to die. The flatterer tells him what he has already heard, and wants to hear again. Inspiration stimulates virtue; flattery induces contentment.”(p. 167)
How far you go in life depends on what you say to yourself mentally. Different experts call it different things, but in the end, it’s simply how you view yourself, what you are willing to tell yourself to keep going, and how you relate to others. I believe that what the author says here about the difference between inspiration and flattery is relevant to what’s on your mind, and not just what’s on your ballot. It’s a simple distinction: if you are willing to tell yourself the things you need to hear-that you are strong, that you are confident, etc.-then you are going to get ahead in life, at least of the people who don’t. But if you are a self-flatterer, meaning that you tell yourself what you want to hear just to silence the part of you wanting something else, this will keep you in neutral.
How do you know whether you flatter or inspire yourself through your thoughts? I believe it all depends on how comfortable you are with your assumptions, biases, and preconceived notions. If you run through the “inspiring” things that we say-that we are strong, we can get through this difficulty, we know better than to do what we’re doing-most of them are things we usually don’t want to hear. None of us want to hear that we are strong enough to get through a problem; the sinful, human side wants the mountain to go away, rather than for us to have the strength to climb over it. This is even more true when we act in opposition to what we know is right, or in indulging what we know is wrong. The “inspired” side of you tells you what is on your heart-guard your loved one’s heart with your words, take care of the people around, stay away from that addiction. We can implicitly recognize that there is something affirmatively good about the “inspiring” things of life, even when we don’t understand why.
Inspiration is the conscience, and self-flattery is the enemy of the soul.
I recognize that in the end, all of this is circular. We have traveled from the demise of the Roman Republic (Cato “resisted” the people with inspiration to a higher good, as Hamilton put it, while Caesar destroyed the Republic as he resorted to flattery) to the Founding, to today’s inner battle against darkness, and back to the days of Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates, some of the first men to recognize the moral implications of politics and rhetoric. I made this journey to stress two points that I think Brookhiser touched on succinctly. One, that there is a critical link between what we perceive as just and good, secular and sacred, public and private, because the normative study of political rhetoric is indistinguishable from study of the antithesis, the conflict within the soul. Two, that even though they are linked, they are apart. Our politics and our civil government can bring peace and prosperity, but they can never solve the problem of sin and bridge the gap between God’s holiness and our own depravity. Maybe this is why Jesus told us to render unto Caesar-that even though our role in public life is to externalize God’s redeeming love, that our ultimate focus should be to place ourselves at the foot of the Cross.
Overall, a decent read if you are interested in biographies on the Founders. I may comment some more after I have read another of Hamilton’s biographies, by Ron Chernow.
Brookhiser’s “Alexander Hamilton, American” is a detailed portrait of the Founding Father, bringing together each of the stages of his life-his childhood in St. Croix, his arrival in America and service in the Continental Army, and his political (and often legal) conflicts-in psychological and philosophical terms. Brookhiser has an interesting way of putting the biography together, by linking together the various influences on his life to paint a picture of someone whom one might say was an intellectual more than a politician, and a Platonic philosopher-king more than a general. In this way, I believe that Brookhiser’s biography stands not just as a portrait of Hamilton, but of American society itself at the time. Many of those same ideas, those same patterns of thinking, influence us as much as they did our forefathers over 200 years ago. Some thoughts I had about one specific passage:
“The inspired leader can tell a man something he did not know about himself: that he is brave, that he is willing to die. The flatterer tells him what he has already heard, and wants to hear again. Inspiration stimulates virtue; flattery induces contentment.”(p. 167)
How far you go in life depends on what you say to yourself mentally. Different experts call it different things, but in the end, it’s simply how you view yourself, what you are willing to tell yourself to keep going, and how you relate to others. I believe that what the author says here about the difference between inspiration and flattery is relevant to what’s on your mind, and not just what’s on your ballot. It’s a simple distinction: if you are willing to tell yourself the things you need to hear-that you are strong, that you are confident, etc.-then you are going to get ahead in life, at least of the people who don’t. But if you are a self-flatterer, meaning that you tell yourself what you want to hear just to silence the part of you wanting something else, this will keep you in neutral.
How do you know whether you flatter or inspire yourself through your thoughts? I believe it all depends on how comfortable you are with your assumptions, biases, and preconceived notions. If you run through the “inspiring” things that we say-that we are strong, we can get through this difficulty, we know better than to do what we’re doing-most of them are things we usually don’t want to hear. None of us want to hear that we are strong enough to get through a problem; the sinful, human side wants the mountain to go away, rather than for us to have the strength to climb over it. This is even more true when we act in opposition to what we know is right, or in indulging what we know is wrong. The “inspired” side of you tells you what is on your heart-guard your loved one’s heart with your words, take care of the people around, stay away from that addiction. We can implicitly recognize that there is something affirmatively good about the “inspiring” things of life, even when we don’t understand why.
Inspiration is the conscience, and self-flattery is the enemy of the soul.
I recognize that in the end, all of this is circular. We have traveled from the demise of the Roman Republic (Cato “resisted” the people with inspiration to a higher good, as Hamilton put it, while Caesar destroyed the Republic as he resorted to flattery) to the Founding, to today’s inner battle against darkness, and back to the days of Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates, some of the first men to recognize the moral implications of politics and rhetoric. I made this journey to stress two points that I think Brookhiser touched on succinctly. One, that there is a critical link between what we perceive as just and good, secular and sacred, public and private, because the normative study of political rhetoric is indistinguishable from study of the antithesis, the conflict within the soul. Two, that even though they are linked, they are apart. Our politics and our civil government can bring peace and prosperity, but they can never solve the problem of sin and bridge the gap between God’s holiness and our own depravity. Maybe this is why Jesus told us to render unto Caesar-that even though our role in public life is to externalize God’s redeeming love, that our ultimate focus should be to place ourselves at the foot of the Cross.
Overall, a decent read if you are interested in biographies on the Founders. I may comment some more after I have read another of Hamilton’s biographies, by Ron Chernow.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Summer of 2006, pt. 9
I need to get better at coming up with titles for these posts...
- I have almost come to the end of my stint in the Queen City. My last day at the office is Thursday, and then I will be heading home to see my family for the first time in about a month.
On Sunday, I visited the Taft Museum of Art, not far from the riverfront and the Great American Ballpark. I will have pictures on here soon-it's a beautiful old house, and each room contains a separate exhibit, and is decorated according to period styles. I wasn't able to take pictures inside, but the decor was amazing-there was a mural painted on the wall in the "historic wing" of the building, complete with Roman-like busts of the two members of the Taft family for whom the museum was named. Also, the collection contained a variety of types of artwork, everything from the Italian Renaissance to more recent English paintings of the nineteenth century. The rooms also had historic furniture, beautifully restored-coffee tables from 1810, sofas from 1815, and others.
The highlights for me were fivefold. First, my favorite area was a room dedicated to works from American history. There was a painting of George Washington, and a collection of small watercolor paintings on what looked like lockets, or watch chains. These were extremely detailed portraits of every president from Washington to Herbert Hoover. Also, it was impressive for me to see a painting by Rembrandt. It was of an everyday subject (a well-dressed gentleman), but looking at it was like listening to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony or reading Shakespeare-you knew you were looking at a work of genius.
My two other favorites were the portrait of President Taft, and the current exhibit at the Taft Museum, art from medieval China (that is, China during the medieval period in Europe). The exhibit on Chinese art was interesting in how it showed the different patterns, and methods of production, used to produce tea bowls, cups, jugs, and other articles. One in particular used a special method of cooling glass, so that the surface of the bowl almost looked as though someone had poured glitter on it, for that "sparkling" texture.
The house itself was beautiful. I got to walk through the garden for a few minutes before I left, although I didn't stay there long on account of the heat. Next door was a nice garden, in Lytle Park-I walked over for a few minutes before I had to go cool off.
- The other aspect of Cincinnati culture I have tried this week is Skyline Chili. It's got a different flavor to it, almost kind of like maple. I have been to LaRosa's a few times, and had their pizza and pasta. I definitely recommend it, and Skyline if you like good chili.
- I hope the heat wave dies down soon. It has been searingly hot outside the last two weeks-today I was driving home from work, at 6:30 in the evening, and the temperature was still 96 degrees outside. And the humidity makes it even worse.
People in Ohio tend to joke about the weather in Arizona, because everyone here thinks it is the most extreme form of heat, like an outdoor oven. I tell them that even though it gets hot in Phoenix (highs of about 110 when I was there in June) Ohio is actually more uncomfortable when the temperature is 85 or 90 with 95% humidity. It's the moisture in the air that makes it miserable, not the number on the thermometer. In Phoenix, you hardly even notice that you're sweating, because your body has the dry air to cool off.
Here in Ohio, when the humidity goes up, it gets much harder to handle. I am actually looking forward to spending a few days in the dry heat; it will be a relief from the heat and humidity here. But you know what they say about Ohio weather-wait 5 minutes and it will change.
- I have almost come to the end of my stint in the Queen City. My last day at the office is Thursday, and then I will be heading home to see my family for the first time in about a month.
On Sunday, I visited the Taft Museum of Art, not far from the riverfront and the Great American Ballpark. I will have pictures on here soon-it's a beautiful old house, and each room contains a separate exhibit, and is decorated according to period styles. I wasn't able to take pictures inside, but the decor was amazing-there was a mural painted on the wall in the "historic wing" of the building, complete with Roman-like busts of the two members of the Taft family for whom the museum was named. Also, the collection contained a variety of types of artwork, everything from the Italian Renaissance to more recent English paintings of the nineteenth century. The rooms also had historic furniture, beautifully restored-coffee tables from 1810, sofas from 1815, and others.
The highlights for me were fivefold. First, my favorite area was a room dedicated to works from American history. There was a painting of George Washington, and a collection of small watercolor paintings on what looked like lockets, or watch chains. These were extremely detailed portraits of every president from Washington to Herbert Hoover. Also, it was impressive for me to see a painting by Rembrandt. It was of an everyday subject (a well-dressed gentleman), but looking at it was like listening to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony or reading Shakespeare-you knew you were looking at a work of genius.
My two other favorites were the portrait of President Taft, and the current exhibit at the Taft Museum, art from medieval China (that is, China during the medieval period in Europe). The exhibit on Chinese art was interesting in how it showed the different patterns, and methods of production, used to produce tea bowls, cups, jugs, and other articles. One in particular used a special method of cooling glass, so that the surface of the bowl almost looked as though someone had poured glitter on it, for that "sparkling" texture.
The house itself was beautiful. I got to walk through the garden for a few minutes before I left, although I didn't stay there long on account of the heat. Next door was a nice garden, in Lytle Park-I walked over for a few minutes before I had to go cool off.
- The other aspect of Cincinnati culture I have tried this week is Skyline Chili. It's got a different flavor to it, almost kind of like maple. I have been to LaRosa's a few times, and had their pizza and pasta. I definitely recommend it, and Skyline if you like good chili.
- I hope the heat wave dies down soon. It has been searingly hot outside the last two weeks-today I was driving home from work, at 6:30 in the evening, and the temperature was still 96 degrees outside. And the humidity makes it even worse.
People in Ohio tend to joke about the weather in Arizona, because everyone here thinks it is the most extreme form of heat, like an outdoor oven. I tell them that even though it gets hot in Phoenix (highs of about 110 when I was there in June) Ohio is actually more uncomfortable when the temperature is 85 or 90 with 95% humidity. It's the moisture in the air that makes it miserable, not the number on the thermometer. In Phoenix, you hardly even notice that you're sweating, because your body has the dry air to cool off.
Here in Ohio, when the humidity goes up, it gets much harder to handle. I am actually looking forward to spending a few days in the dry heat; it will be a relief from the heat and humidity here. But you know what they say about Ohio weather-wait 5 minutes and it will change.
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