Welcome "The Mercied"

I have added to the list of linked sites "The Mercied", a blog maintained by fellow Blackstoner Rebecca Phillips and friends. Check it out if you get a chance, it is definitely a good read.

Reaping the Whirlwind

So it is September, and things are getting busier all the time. I could go on and on about all the thoughts swimming around in my head right now, and the activities that consume my days, but I will focus on them one at a time.

- Classes/App Ad: App Ad, or Appellate Advocacy for those not enrolled in it, is time-consuming, but probably one of the more practically useful classes I will take here. We just had our conferences this week to go over the first draft of the brief, and I was glad that I didn't have any points taken off the final grade. The next step is to submit our "micro draft", the second of the three drafts, and the last chance we will have to get feedback before we submit the final copy on November 6. The oral arguments will follow about two weeks later.

My classes are interesting-a diverse group of Evidence, Business Associations (Corporations), First Amendment, Federal Courts, and App Ad. They are all supplying valuable knowledge (BA is tough because I don't specifically have a business background) but First Amendment is especially interesting because of my passion for constitutional law. Federal Courts is also a good class, delving into the jurisprudential theory behind sovereign immunity, federal vs. state jurisdiction, and a lot of the procedural constitutional law topics. I am glad I signed up for it, since it will prepare me well for Civil Procedure II in the spring.

- Bowling: I had a bad night at the lanes last night, bowling only a 100 and 95 in the two games (I had a 138 average going into last night). I will definitely have to pick things up starting next week. At least my handicap will be higher next time.

- Fantasy football: I have a pretty good team put together, with Michael Vick as my quarterback, Donte Stallworth and Larry Fitzgerald as two of my receivers, and Tony Gonzalez from the Chiefs as my tight end. My title chances were hurt when Shaun Alexander, my star running back, broke his foot, but I will adjust. I have Warrick Dunn as my backup running back, and I will try and trade for someone else (if I could just figure out how, if I can, to rework my "can't cut" list).

If only I could trade for Ray Lewis and A.J. Hawk on defense, and Ladanian (sp?) Tomlinson as my fill-in running back....I guess we can't always have what we want.

- CLS conference: more to come on this soon, but it looks as though the pieces are falling into place to attend the Christian Legal Society national conference in San Antonio, Texas in November. It is looking like a great event, with Alan Sears as one of the speakers, so I am really looking forward to hearing from him and the other presenters. I am going along with one other person from our chapter, so it will be nice to have someone there representing Ohio State. Plus, it will be fantastic to see some of my Blackstone friends again; I know of about 5-6 people who are planning on going.

This is indicative of a larger desire I have to travel. I thought that maybe I would get some of it out of system after this summer, having been to Cincinnati, Boston and Phoenix, among other places, but all that flying and traversing time zones has made me want to travel even more. I am not sure yet if we will get to sightsee while in San Antonio, but I definitely want to see the Alamo if I get a chance. Next year, I plan to visit Los Angeles when I go to the Blackstone reunion in June-should be a great time. I figure this is the time to travel, while I am young, single, and have the means to get on a plane and go. Other places I want to see include the Mountain West (Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana), Alaska, and Hawaii.

September Swing

In case you couldn't tell from the dearth of posts, things have been pretty crazy down here in Columbus the last couple of weeks. A lot of my promised posts have fallen by the wayside, including the story about Rev. Boyd up in Minnesota, an update of last week's events, and a bunch of other things. I will do my best to try and keep up.

Overall, it has been a very busy but very rewarding 2L year so far. I just finished writing a 16-page brief for my Appellate Advocacy course, and being a staff member on one of the school's law journals has kept me busy. We have found time for fun too-last night we started bowling, and we did really well. I bowled a 121 and 145 in our two games, which is excellent for me; I switched to a 12-pound ball instead of 13, and it has significantly raised my average.

That old saw about how in "the second year, they work you to death" has a ring of truth to it. Our workload is intense right now, with a combination of journal, App Ad, and a full course load, in addition to the little thing about finding a job for next summer. I am working to try and keep the faith right now, that everything will work out. The important thing is to keep my eyes on God above, and trust Him, and He will lead me where I need to go.

A Running Post

So I finally got to the last of the dozen posts about my summer. I made a promise that had to be kept, no matter how long it took (even until Labor Day). The fact is, I am swamped right now: a full course load, Appellate Advocacy, Christian Legal Society, Student Bar Association, and a multitude of other things. But I am going to find the time to keep this blog going, to keep up with the news and maintain it as a resource for Christians who are either in law school or considering legal education. Plus, I enjoy it too much.

After being back in Columbus for a few weeks now, I have started to get things somewhat under control. Every day brings its own challenges. Starting this month, I plan to get settled in with a local church again, begin pursuing outside activities to boost my lawyering skills (such as volunteer work and being active in bar associations), and continue looking for a job for next summer.

Most of all, I want to keep my eye in God in the midst of the time storm I am facing right now. It is so easy to lose sight of Him when you have so much to accomplish in one day, so many fires to put out that demand your attention. But this is the time when I need to stay on track (or get on back when I have strayed) in order to keep a sense of perspective and diligence.

This weekend, I will have a post on Legal News. Not sure of the topic right now. This week, I will give a more detailed update on the first few weeks of school, including what I did this Labor Day weekend (I turned 23 yesterday), the upcoming Mentoring Program luncheon, and the Christian Legal Society Bible study.

Stay tuned for more posts.

Summer of 2006, pt. 12

Now for the final post of the summer (now fall) of 2006:

- It wouldn't do justice to my experiences this summer to describe the changes I have undergone in a single post. I will just talk about them briefly:

1) Social: I know now that I am not alone. One of the biggest problems that we Christians face as law students is social isolation, to varying degrees depending on the school and the kind of environment in which we are placed. One way in which the Blackstone really helped me was to make me see that there are scores, hundreds of other law students out there, across the country, who feel as passionately as I do about the future of this country, and preserving traditional values for our grandchildren. This has given me a renewed sense of strength as I move into my second year.
2) Professional: I intend to try and expand my reading list to include books outside the regular curriculum, such as those by Blackstone, Coke, and others. It will help to sharpen my mind by introducing me to the philosophy behind the law I am studying, and will ultimately make me a more effective advocate.
3) Spiritual: This summer was a time of spiritual revival for me; as I said earlier, it has taken coming to the desert to get me out of the desert in which I had been wandering at times throughout college. I experienced some of the deepest and most meaningful times of worship while in Phoenix, and during Phase II. I intend to keep going what I acquired this summer-an even deeper and more abiding love for the Lord, that will carry over to my law school studies.

These are probably some of the biggest ways the Blackstone affected me. Not an exhaustive list by any means, but a few things to think about.