All we are saying

Is give peace a chance

A little retro-active for you all.

About the work

During this long weekend I've been hanging out with my sister Marylee here in Baton Rouge and in Mississippi at Breland's camp. And we've been eating. A lot.

With Marylee here I haven't had a chance to really spend a lot of time thinking about school and the amount of homework I have this weekend. Honestly, it's not that much, compared to last weekend, but I know it's going to get worse.

Living with a law graduate and living around law students has taught me that it gets worse -- that I should be freaking out, outlining things I don't yet understand. I should be spending more than the time allotted at school and at home on studying. But I'm not.

Don't get me wrong -- I do the work, I spend about four hours a day after classes studying. But then I go home, I go to the gym, I read or watch TV. Granted, some days are worse than others, but on average that's my day.

I'm sure it will get worse, but these last two days "away from the law" have made me think that my friends who are gunning hard already might be obsessed with doing just that -- obsessing.

Class elections are Wednesday and Thursday and I'm running for office. We'll see how that goes.

Morning people?

Are all law students morning people or is it just me? I kind of think we have to be.

For those of you who know me well, you know in college I stayed up late and woke up mid-morning, barely made it to work at the SPLC on time every day and have never been a wake-up-early person.

But not in law school.

The fear of walking into my 8 a.m. torts class late and being ostracized by the professor has literally turned me into a morning person. This morning I slept until 6:45, thank goodness.

We'll have to see how those weekend wake up times go...

Last day of the Second (third) week

I'm writing this post from my Legal Traditions class, which is basically a lecture on the history of law. I'm not ignoring the teacher, I promise.

Thursday is the last official day of class of the second official week of school. Although it started long before that with orientation and a large load of homework. LSU's Paul M. Hebert Law Center starts a week before other major law schools in the country (sometimes up to three weeks before) because of the bijural nature of the curriculum. We also take the most required credit hours of any law school in the country, including a mandatory summer session.

And I decided to go here!

Honestly, law school is not as hard as it is just a lot of work. As a matter of fact, it's the most work I've ever done for a single class in my life... for every class. As I told one of my old professors from the Manship School the other day, I don't believe I was ever seriously intellectually challenged until law school. Sure, stuff was difficult in undergrad, but not on this level or magnitude.

Tonight, some 1Ls are congregating at my house to watch The Paper Chase, a movie about... you guessed it, law school. Our conversations are dominated by it. While lifting weights yesterday I found myself trying to figure out if I dropped a 70-pound weight because it was too heavy on someone's foot would that be a tort. Seriously.

I hope you all like the new look of this site (please send suggestions) and hope you will continue to check it to keep up with how law school and my life is going. I will write about all kinds of things from politics and journalism to law school and the nature of legal education. Basically, I'm going to need a break from writing about the law all day. This blog is that break.

Ch-Ch-Changes

So I'm in Law School now and I'm going to need a place to write things... non-law related. I hope ya'll will bear with me but I'm trying to work on this space in my free time.

Back in Black

So law school orientation starts tomorrow. I've spent the last two days getting used to Baton Rouge again... driving around to do stuff, buying things I probably don't need, talking to old friends and getting to know some of my classmates.

All I can say is I had no idea how much this would be like high school. I had always heard that, but I guess I misunderestimated it, to use popular vernacular around here.

More to come.

And now, the end.

The group after my farewell dinner at Lauriol Plaza in Dupont

I have been really bad about updating this blog lately, so much has been going on this summer, honestly. In having dinner with my aunt Rachelle the other day she reminded me that people still read it. I'm going to keep the blog open, and probably convert it in to some kind of 1st-year law students blog. After I get my new computer I'll redesign it, etc.

I will miss the friends I've made, and the friendships I've rekindled by being in the District. It really is a great place to live, except for the fact that your vote doesn't count and the taxes are ridiculous. I'm realy glad I have this year under my belt and I'm excited to go back to law school, but it's bittersweet because of the great people I've been with here.

I also enjoyed getting to hang out with family up here, from my cousin Jay to my aunt Rachelle. I'm looking forward, though, to seeing more family as I return down south. I'm glad for the people who got to visit and take advantage of my being here.

And now, home. At 4:30 today I will leave Arlington Virginia and probably be stuck in traffic for a while.

My route will take me down Virginai HWY 29 to Charlottesville, VA and then Greensboro, NC. I'll stay with my uncle Bill and his family there for the night and then head to Charlotte, where my new Apple Macbook awaits. North Carolina is having a tax-free weekend and I'm going to benefit!

It's been a while

I'm working like crazy here during my last month in Washington, D.C., and planning to leave town right after my last day of work, August 3. I'll travel down the east coast and hope to stay with my uncle's family in North Carolina for a night, possibly, then continue on to New Orleans, where I'll pick up most of the stuff I left behind a year ago, then on to Baton Rouge.

I'm moving back in tot he same place I lived in during my senior year, with the same roommate. The house is great and in a great location. It's going to be a little bit of deja vu, no doubt.

This weekend Mat Sanders, Mark Bonner and Dennis Mitchell are coming to visit, witht my old bud Jimmy Murphy in town as well visiting Carey Givens. Should be a crazy couple of days. Patrick's wedding on Friday, flying into MSY on Friday then on to Baton Rouge for the wedding, then back to NOLA for another wedding Saturday. Life in the fast lane, literally.

New York, New York Redux

Not the only straight one in Dupont Circle.

So my sister Marylee came up for a surprise visit this weekend and in between all the tourist-y stuff that you normally do with a 14-year-old visitor I took her to the Capital Pride parade, the annual parade of gays, lesbians and their supporters in the haven of DC's Dupont Circle.

Much different than the pride parades I've seen in the past which are normally attended by the faithful few and their followers, this was an all-American, family oriented event. The mayor was there marching, as was the DC Delegate to Congress and even a representation of Hillary Clinton (apparently, the LGBT community supports Hillary overwhelmingly because no other presidential candidates were represented).

The biggest cheers from the crowd came for the large construction worker float (above), which featured weight lifters and chin-uppers, among others. Christian groups marched in the two-hour-long affair, proclaiming their acceptance and chanting that "God loves you Gay or Straight." Families with gay children, gay couples with adopted children and anti-AIDS marchers also received high praise.

Marylee and I had a great time this weekend and I was sorry to see her go. Next weekend I'm off to New York City for my friend Patrick's bachelor party. The extravaganza will include expensive dinners, more expensive drinking (trust me) and a four-on-four football game in Central Park's famous Sheep Meadows. Stay tuned for more details, but until then here's some more pictures from this weekend.


Which state am I from? Who knows?




Marylee at the exorcist steps in Georgetown.

The only Republican worth voting for in 2008 is...

This man right here. Ron Paul. The only Texan with a shot of eliminating George Bush as our last Republican president for a long time.



From his own presidential Web site, Ron Paul for President.
Brief Overview of Congressman Paul's Record
He has never voted to raise taxes.
He has never voted for an unbalanced budget.
He has never voted for a federal restriction on gun ownership.
He has never voted to raise congressional pay.
He has never taken a government-paid junket.
He has never voted to increase the power of the executive branch.
He voted against the Patriot Act.
He voted against regulating the Internet.
He voted against the Iraq war.
He does not participate in the lucrative congressional pension program.
He returns a portion of his annual congressional office budget to the U.S. treasury every year.

Wow. This guy is a freaking winner. He's exactly the kind of president I want. The stay-the-hell-out-of-my-life president. Not only that, but as I watch the debates I find myself more and more thinking he is what John McCain used to be.

New York, New York

This past weekend I took the Amtrak train to New York City for both business and pleasure. I took the train Thursday evening and enjoyed the 3 1/2 hour trip. It's a beautiful journey, until you get to New Jersey. Those of you who know me know my general disdain for the entire state of New Jersey. The view from the car doesn't help.

Thursday night I had dinner in NYC with three of my fraternity brothers, Tim, Jay and Brad (who was also in town on business). Friday I spoke to a small convention of college editors-in-chief along with a lawyer from the West Coast who does consulting work for the SPLC. Friday evening I moved from my Morningside Heights Hotel (which my room, incidentally, was truly New York Small) to my friend Jay's apartment on the Upper East Side.

We spent the weekend drinking, eating good food and generally doing New York things. Although there are no pictures, the camera battery died after taking this one above. Jay and I went to see "A Chorus Line" on Broadway, which for those of you who don't know, is about a casting a Chorus Line on Broadway. What a coincidence! It was great. I love Broadway shows.

Sunday morning I picked up a Lox bagel at a deli a few blocks from Penn Station and ran to the train. While eating that bagel, the quintessential Sunday morning meal for me, I finished reading a book "Under the Banner of Heaven," by one of my favorite authors, Jon Krakauer. The book is about violent Mormonism and the general history of the religion. Let me tell you, that will make you think twice about voting for Mitt Romney. Although I will say that if someone had written the same kind of historical novel about my religion (or any religion, since Mormonism is the true modern American religion), I believe many readers would think similarly.

My little sister Marylee is coming to visit this weekend, I just found out. and next weekend I'm set return to New York for a friend's bachelor party.

More later.

Some photos from Annapolis

Last weekend a group of us went to Annapolis to see the historic area, downtown, the Maryland state capitol and the naval academy. The weather was a little cold but otherwise wonderful.


On a boat tour of the Chesapeake Bay




The Maryland Capitol Building

My summer goals

Well, my spring interns are gone and the spring magazine has been printed and is currently being shipped to our subscribers and newsrooms around the country. You should be able to read it online on our Web site, splc.org, sometime next week.

I have set a few goals for myself this summer before I return to LSU's Law School. Thought I'd share them with you all.

1.) Lose 15 more pounds/improve health. I'm already down 15 from my weight when I got here.
The summer is the perfect time to knock these extra pounds off before law school.

2.) Launch http://www.reveillealumni.org. I've already got a shell of a site up, but I'm still learning the database code that will allow future Reveille alumni to search out other alumns in the geographic areas/fields they are moving to/interested in. I think this will eventually be an invaluable tool.

3.) I bought a stock trading reference book and I'm learning about the stock market. I may even make some recreational trades.

4.) Explore the corridor: whether its hiking, biking, sightseeing etc, I'm going to have a car up here this summer and I'm planning to use it. I'm also headed to NYC at least twice.

Pictures from last week's trip to Annapolis will be up this weekend. Enjoy the weekend everyone!

The TP and New Orleans

There's a reason the Times-Picayune is one of the best-read newspapers in the country. It's because people trust the newspaper. Liberal and conservative, black and white, people in New Orleans make time to read the paper. I don't get the same feeling from the local papers I've read in the past and read now.

Check out this great commentary from the New York Times' David Carr on how the Times-Pic is faring in a post-K environment.

Bush v. Louisiana

Yet another example of why I don't understand how Louisiana is one of the only states in the union that still approves of the job our president is doing.

An article citing $854 million in lost post-Katrina aid from foreign countries caught my eye in this morning's Washington Post. The Times-Picayune and several other area news organizations have caught on and played up the story (although not one of my favorite, The Dead Pelican, with its extreme-right slant, has not deemed the story more worthy than third-tier status).

The offer was made up of cash, food and oil.

Although America gives countless millions to countries around the world, not to mention the unprecedented amount of money donated in wake of the Tsunami two years ago, the Post story says that U.S. Ambassadors were "embarrassed" to have to tell these foreign governments that we did not need their manpower, money and supplies.

I guess that's because Brownie was doing such a "heckuva job."

Forget about the mismanagement of the war or billions a week we're spending there, why are people in Louisiana not demanding more from our president (and those who support him?)

Bush's national approval rating is sitting at 38 percent as of April 2007. Although I can't find it online I know I read recently that Louisiana was one of a handful of states where he still has a favorable approval rating.

Only two other presidents since polling began have held a below-40 percent approval rating for longer than George W. Bush, Richard Nixon (Watergate) and Harry Truman (Korean War).

I told someone recently that one day my kids will be learning about how Bush completely failed Louisiana. What a shame.

And sometimes I wonder about my friends who still have their "Bush/Cheney" bumper stickers. 2004 was a long time ago, and I don't care how they vote in 2008, as long as they remember what happened after Katrina and Rita when they do.

Why I love Bill Clinton

This clip from Family Guy on Youtube is hilarious, everyone take a look:

Bill Clinton plays Dance Dance Revolution

The best storm to never hit Baton Rouge

This week's bad weather along the East Coast extended my vacation to Baton Rouge an extra day, and although I'm not scrambling to keep up with my work schedule here in DC I see it as a blessing in disguise.

The weather has been awful this week in DC, grey skies and increment rain. But the weekend in Baton Rouge (except for a few showers) was beautiful, sunny and about 65 degrees. Coupled with a good visit to the Law School I think the feeling of the weekend, the ability to move back in with my friend Jason and the price tag have led me to send my seat deposit in to my Alma mater.

The Manship School is going to allow me to take graduate classes in Mass Communication as electives in my law curriculum, which should be a nice break and will keep my skills and theory fresh.

Just thought I'd let you all know that I'll be back in Baton Rouge in August as a member of the 2010 class of the Paul M. Hebert Law Center. You could say I'm counting the days.

Cherry Blossoms and a Movie Review

Breland and I spent a long weekend together here during what wound of being a beautiful, perfect-weather weekend. We attended the annual Cherry Blossom Festival here in the District. The cherry blossoms really are a great accent to the Tidal Basin area, which stretches from the Jefferson Memorial along the National Mall. We especially enjoyed the Kite Festival on the National Mall, not sure if you can really see how many kites there were on the mall that Saturday, but it must have been hundreds.



While she was in town, Breland and I saw "Blades of Glory," which was funny. But the night she left I saw a sneak preview of "The Reaping" with some of my friends in Georgetown. The movie, starring Hillary Swank and filmed in Louisiana, is downright awful. Besides having a plot that confuses more than it clears up, it portrayed every bad stereotype of Louisianans that you could possibly imagine. I.e. we don't have running water, are all evangelical Christians, talk with a twang, etc.

The only bright spot of the movie was some scenes set on LSU's campus and seeing LSU's logo all over stuff. Wonder how much they got paid for that?

Don't see the movie. Don't support the industry that took Louisiana's tax credit program to town. It's so awful it's currently ranked with a 7 percent on Rottentomatoes.com, listing it as simply an awful movie. The movie itself has also been in production and post-production forever, (the movie is so old it still uses the old LSU logos from 2005).

I'm coming down to Louisiana next week for an LSU Law visit day. Hoping to see everyone in Baton Rouge.

Close enough

I am now 99% sure that I'll be back at LSU next year for law school, for a number of factors.

A.) Attending LSU will provide minimal debt (scholarship + low cost of living = little loans) allowing me to pursue any kind of career interest (public interest, lawyer-reporter, etc) without having to worry about paying back $100,000 in loans.

B.) Alabama and Chapel Hill still haven't gotten back to me and LSU's first deposit deadline is April 15.

C.) Baton Rouge wouldn't be an awful place to spend three more years.

D.) They seem to be very interested in accommodating my needs as a law student, and it seems that the school is on the rise. Plus I think Louisiana wouldn't be that bad of a place to wind up in the end.

Sound good enough to you? Me too.

I am however, disappointed in LSU's no-work policy for first year law students. Other law schools around the country allow you to work up to 20 hours a week to help augment the price of law school and get experience. I was hoping to freelance for a few publications in town. It seems I will have to keep my journalism skills honed in other ways, for a year at least.

I also have contacted the Manship School about taking some of my electives in Journalism graduate courses, which the school and the law school have been very receptive to.

My recovery from Wisdom Teeth surgery is coming along nicely. Last night I cut my sore teeth with the first solid food I'd really eaten in a week by going out to dinner with an LSU Law professor and a few other prospective LSU Law students at a swanky local restaurant. I got the fish, seemed easy enough. Hoping I can move on to more solid foods this weekend.

Breland flies in to D.C. tomorrow morning, just in time for the Cherry Blossom Festival to begin. It really is a beautiful time here in D.C., I'll be sure to post pictures after our long weekend.