"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

 
Conversation in Class

Me: Here, I picked up the handouts for you. I didn't know if you had this one--we got it a while ago.
3L Dude: Yeah, thanks...I haven't done the reading for today.
Me: Oh?
3L Dude: And by today, I mean the semester.
Me: Ha.

posted by Bekah at 3:45 PM :: |

 
Time to Face the Music

Whenever there's a gathering at a law student's house, attention consistently turns to the one unflagging source of law school-related entertainment: the face book. Yes, that horrible collection of head shots and undergrad information is a constant source of amusement for law students of all stripes. Men do it. Women do it. Nerds, jocks, and indie rockers do it. For some bizarre reason, the face book intrigues us all. You can try to look away, but I promise: you will pick that thing up again, and you will scrutinize it. Don't deny it. We bring out the face book when we're with other law students in an attempt to make it seem less weird and pathetic. It's like Googling people. You don't feel as psychotic if you do it with a group of your friends.

The face book gets whipped out in a variety of circumstances. Most commonly, someone describes a particularly off-putting or questionable person and someone else says, "I have no idea who that is. Do you have your face book"? It's all downhill from there. Done. Or the face book might come out if people are having a discussion about who transferred out of school, or who got married, or who changed their face book picture for 2L year (gasp!). When these pressing questions arise, the only solution is to pour over the pages of the face book, searching for whatever means of classification or judgment can satisfy our nosy lawyer urges. I won't name names, but I've known people to use highlighters to color code various information about people. It's all very technical. Sadly, my friends and I even have nicknames for people. Yeah, it's true.

A stranger passing by a law student's home while a face book examination is underway may hear a variety of exclamations emanating from within. Such utterances often include:
"Oh my GOD, she looks NOTHING like that! FALSE ADVERTISING!"
"That person hooked up with X at the beginning of last year, but now he's with Y. Don't tell!"
"Why aren't there any good looking boys at this school?"
"This is the person I was talking about who WON'T SHUT UP in X class."
"Did you see what she was wearing Tuesday? Dear God!"
"Ooh, It's a profile shot and she's staring off into the distance with a serene expression. How very avant garde."

This might seem petty or snobby, but I assure you that all law students are guilty of these types of comments/criticisms. Law school is like high school--gossip is a law student's main food group. We all need that nourishment to survive. Now if you'll excuse me, it is imperative that I find my face book and see whether or not my friend's 3L crush is in a joint degree program.

posted by Bekah at 11:00 AM :: |