I am such a suck-up

This is the letter I just sent to my Professor. Yesterday was the last day of class and he gave us a heartfelt, inspirational lecture with some insights to his own history and life lessons.

I'm not really suck up if I really mean it- right?


Prof. Bond,

I first wanted to say thank you for all the care you put into teaching our class. Your concern/compassion for students and love for teaching is really touching. I truly enjoyed this class and am glad for the opportunity to have you as my very first law school professor (I feel ok saying this since exams are graded anonymously...).

In light of all the "stories" I have heard and the books I have read ("One L" by Scott Turow) about first year classes, you have given law school a down to earth, human touch that was unexpected. I learned, yes, law professors are real people too, with families and interests and biographical stories.

I always felt the desire to teach but I didn't take education classes in college because I was drawn by my own persistent hunger for education. There is so much I still want to learn and discover before I can consider teaching. I think this class will have an enormous impact on my future decisions regarding teaching as a profession. Thank you for your "lecture" and inspiration .

This wouldn't be a proper student-teacher email if I didn't have one final question about the material:

Under the MPC, for a Mistake of Fact defense, does the mistake have to be reasonable for crimes requiring purpose/knowledge or does it have to be reasonable just for negligence/recklessness? The verbage/wording is confusing....

Thank you,

I wonder if its too late to enroll in clown school?

Rolling with the punches

I'm numbing my nerves so that I can stop worrying. I won't say that I have stopped caring- just that I will stop worrying.

After a couple of unimpressive comments that my teacher tossed aside with clever argument this past week or so- I got my gold star.

We were having a discussion about whether someone who drives while intoxicated (a state one voluntarily puts oneself in) and causes a death indirectly should be liable in a particular case. I referenced a case in which someone's cruise control malfunctioned and they were held liable for speeding. The teacher's eyes got bright and announced "well, that is a VERY interesting anaology".

Christy redeemed.

99% of my fellow students are opting to take their final exam on a computer rather than writing in a blue book. I don't know if I will be at a disadvantage if I opt for the blue book. I have NEVER taken a test on a computer- I'm a pretty inefficient typer. Shall I cave to peer pressure so that don't feel at some technological disadvantage or should I do what I have always done (attack of the writer's cramp....).

This is just one more thing to pshyc me out on top of the fact that I still have NO CLUE how to take a Law School test. But it's all good- because I'm not worrying anymore.....

Powering Through

I have an in class practice exam tomorrow. The exam will take the entire class and will be a good indicator of what our final is going to be like.

FINALLY- something that will help me measure how well I'm understanding all this stuff.

This weekend I started the process of re-reading ALL of reading assignments up until now, and I cleaned up my outline. I will probably finish on Tuesday by which time I expect to have the rules of EVERY case we have covered so far in one single document.

I am an outline machine!

I feel alot better than I did last week. Last Thursday, I had to force back tears of frustration in lab as the material just seemed to woosh by me. In class all last week, I was an unpleasant person to sit next to. My friend cracked jokes and made smart comments to what was going on in class, but I was intently focused on trying to make sense of the mush in my head or pouting in moments of mental surrender. DJ who sits all the way across the room noticed and even asked me of I was ok.

I finally went up at break to ask the teacher a question. His reply was, "the fact that you're asking this question is good. It means you understand the issues". But, still Christy received no answer....

Side note: elderly, walker reliant professor looks even cuter up close.

Note Taken:

When law professor asks the class, "what do you think?". He doesn't really want to know your personal feelings on the issue of a particular case. (this note is for Mr. Mentally-ill-14-year-olds-who-commit-murder-should-be-sentenced-to-death sitting in the middle row) He wants you to make an analytical comment on the court ruling at stake. He wants you to think it through and question or support it in light of previous cases we have discussed. . .

Wow, for the first time ever, I have actually read ahead of the class assignment schedule. This was purely a mistake, I assure you, and will never happen again.

The number of different short cut methods being undertaken by students to prep for our final is astonishing. I am worried because so far, I am prepping in old school, poor college student fashion-- by reading the material over and over.

I have seen criminal law flash cards, audio recordings of professor's lectures, cheat sheets, study guides and outlines. I know someone who outright went to the Prof. outside of class and ask him for copies of last year's exam. Like law school would be that easy....

I think people are prone to forgetting that we are paying for an education, not for a grade or for a class ranking. The point is to learn, not cram, and not to know only what will be on the final exam.