"In vacant or in pensive mood..." I am: Bekah; 24; Law Student / Favorite Things: Carbs (so there!), Johnny Damon, Smiling at babies, Grilled cheese, Comfortable silence / Favorite Supreme Court Justice: Brennan / Favorite Wilson: Owen by an inch / Today's Special: Song: Elliott Smith, "Bled White"; Quote: "You know, there's like a butt-load of gangs at this school. This one gang kept wanting me to join because I'm pretty good with a bowstaff." Please love me: mmbekah@yahoo.com


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Psychological Study: The Effects of a Sub and Cite on a Previously Normal Girl

I spent most of the day on Friday, the hours between 8:30 a.m. and 11:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, and every hour between classes today, doing my Sub and Cite assignment with my partner. You can try to count those hours; the very thought makes me nauseous. What, you might ask, could have possibly taken so long? Well, I will tell you. And I will tell you in detail, because detail is what I've been trained to obsess about lately.

I had to check the substance of every line of my assigned article, meaning that I had to pull every law journal, every magazine, every federal reporter, etc. mentioned in the article, find the exact reference, and check it word by word for accuracy. When there was an incorrect pinpoint cite (a cite to the specific page of an article or case), I had to read the entire article or case to find the reference, and correct the author's error. I had to correct everything with a red pen (neatly whiting out any mistakes), and I had to place a yellow Post-It note on the article explaining every change I made. I had to put everything in correct Bluebook form. I had to request interlibrary loans for every unavailable book. I had to make photocopies of the copyright and title pages of every book we used, and a copy of every page on which a quote of ten words or more appears. I had to highlight said quotes (yes, I said "said quotes;" I'm allowed to talk like a damn lawyer sometimes), but only the actual words that the author used. I had to do other horribly demeaning things as well, but I'm too tired and feel too violated to go on.

The important thing, though, is that it is now a little after 10 p.m. on Monday night and all I have to do is a final grammar read-through and put the source list on a floppy disk. (That is, until I get my next Sub and Cite assignment in a few days). This is a good thing, although I will grant you that I'm a little worse for the wear after this weekend.

I now invite you to take a little peek into my newly developed dementia:

My Partner: (Places a stapled packet of paper titled "Source List" on the table in front of us)

Me: Is that the official Source List?

My Partner: What?

Me: Is that the Source List we're going to turn in to the Senior Managing Editor?

My Partner: Uh, yeah...

Me: No.

My Partner: No? What are you talking about?

Me: The staple is too far in, and the pages are bent.

My Partner: The pages are bent?

Me: Print another copy out right now.

My Partner: Bekah. You have lost your mind.

Me: Just do it.

My Partner: You are a psychopath.

Me: I know.

We also had several Office Space moments; one where the copy machine said something remarkably close to "PC Loadletter," and one where the reference librarian (I kid you not) demanded that we return her stapler.

Goodnight. I am going to read this puppy one more time, and then...and then I should probably read for those little things called CLASSES that I'm supposed to be taking while I'm here. Which ones am I taking again?

posted by Bekah at 10:23 PM :: |