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| | | My Fear of An Unlived Life | |
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< | -- By AllisonHouston - 01 Mar 2018
Sometimes I feel strange and out of place being enrolled as a law student. I’m sure my previous statement is something that on the surface resonates with many of my first year peers. But, what I am trying to convey with that sentiment is something much deeper. I don’t feel out of place in the traditional and predictable sense of viewing law school as a daunting undertaking, the classes being incredibly difficult and unique compared to a typical undergraduate liberal arts curriculum, or the general uneasiness and weariness accompanying the 1L summer job hunt. Rather, I have no intention of becoming a lawyer. Particularly in the sense that my end goal aspirations do not include working at a firm till the ripe age of retirement with a career spanning decades. That to me would represent a grave failure on my part and a disservice to myself so extreme that I would have a problem looking myself in the mirror everyday knowing I was too much of a cautious coward to pursue my true aspiration: politics.
An essay should begin by taking the reader's attention. This paragraph is prolix and not arresting. It means "I'm here so I can go into politics." You can just say that. Then you can get directly to the main idea of the essay, and the reader will follow you.
I am probably one of the few people who can claim having a parent who was initially disappointed in their choice to attend law school. The fact I would be attending an Ivy League law school made no difference. But, I know it had less to do with my choice of graduate studies and more to do with my ultimate career aspirations. My mother deeply worries about the unpredictability of a political career and disfavors the fact that my employment prospects in that field are dependent on the support of others, rather than a stable well paying law firm job.
This could be "My mother wants me to get a law firm job and earn good, steady money. She doesn't understand why I want to be in politics." Use fewer words, and you will say more, because you will keep the reader with you, and to a reader who has given up there is nothing to be said.
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> | -- By AllisonHouston - 29 June 2018 | | | | |
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> | Sometimes I feel strange and out of place being enrolled as a law student because I have no intention of becoming a lawyer, I want to be involved in politics. My end goal aspirations do not include working at a firm till the ripe age of retirement with a career spanning decades. That to me would represent a grave failure on my part and a disservice to myself so extreme that I would have a problem looking myself in the mirror everyday knowing I avoided running for office. | | | | |
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< | Since I was in preschool, I had always wanted to be a heart surgeon, but I had a drastic change in trajectory after the election of President Obama in 2008. I had already been active in student council for years prior, but I never thought to think larger, to apply my interest to something much bigger and impactful. Honestly, it’s very hard to imagine yourself in certain positions when it has never been done before by someone who looks like you. American politics are overwhelming white and male, so to see someone like you attain such a historically inaccessible position to those who don’t look like the previous 43 presidents was an amazing thing to witness as an impressionable middle-schooler.
This paragraph too can be at least two thirds shorter.
Although politics has for the most part been viewed as corrupt, self-serving, unjust, and more often than not an enforcement of hegemonic power structures, it can also be an avenue of profound change, impact, and social progression. The political system can be greatly steered by active civic engagement and participation. Now, since many people are unsatisfied in the wake of the 2016 election, I feel that politics requires participation by those are willing to rise above the discouragement and vitriol. | >
> | Since I was in preschool, I had always wanted to be a heart surgeon, but I had a drastic change in trajectory after the election of President Obama in 2008. American politics are overwhelming white and male, so to see someone like you attain such a historically inaccessible position was powerful. I think that is why my mother is sometimes wearisome about me entering politics, because the profession doesn’t quite reflect the electorate. She also dislikes the unpredictability and the fact that my employment prospects in that field are dependent on the support of others, rather than a stable well paying law firm job. But, I can’t shake the hope and inspiration that was instilled in me as an impressionable middle-schooler. | | | | |
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> | Although politics has for the most part been viewed as corrupt, self-serving, unjust, and more often than not an enforcement of hegemonic power structures, it can also be an avenue of profound change, impact, and social progression. The political system can be greatly steered by active civic engagement and participation. Now, since many people are unsatisfied in the wake of the 2016 election, I feel that politics requires participation by those who are willing to rise above the discouragement and vitriol. | | | But oftentimes I worry that that my cheery disposition towards the good politics can do is just a byproduct of my youth and naivety. I sometimes wonder if with age will I change in my demeanor. I fear losing optimism, I fear losing hopefulness, but I most fear succumbing to jadedness and apathy. Becoming numb and indifferent to problems faced by others is something I don’t ever want to be part of my character. | |
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> | I think a good way to combat losing those qualities is to know what running and holding office will entail. I have a friend who worked for campaigns prior to law school and I’ve enjoyed having conversations with him. I’ve gotten to hear his stories about campaign faux pas, triumphs, and hardships. I plan on asking him more substantive questions in the future about campaigns, but until then I’ve found inspiration in young people currently running for office. This summer I’m working at MSNBC and so all day I’m constantly surrounded by televisions. Yesterday, I saw reports about a 28-year old named Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who beat a ten-term incumbent. Immediately, I was captivated by her win, the platform she stood for, and the grassroots organizing she put in. Although, I’m still quite unfamiliar with the technicalities one must satisfy for running for office, I am energized by people like her, and feel deeply encouraged. I plan to talk with more people about how campaigns work and hope to volunteer for one in the near future before setting out on my own. | | | | |
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This draft is a good beginning; it gets the material on the page where you can see it, and decide what to do next.
First course of improvement, as I say in the comments above, is radical tightening. You need only a few of the words already here to say the things you need to say, simply and with force. That leave more than enough room for the next course of improvement, which is to take your own idea seriously.
So, you want to be in politics. You are in law school, preparing to
hold a law license. Why? What can you learn in law school that you
need? Which network are you building? What do you need to know
about how to begin a political career, and from whom do you learn
it? Which of your colleagues in law school have been working on
campaigns and doing political advertising before they came to law
school, so they can offer you some reality about what it's like to
do the candidate thing? And so on. Use the next draft to think
about the questions that your intentions raise, so that objectives
can be clarified, and necessary resources identified; it is, after
all, objectives and resources that are the inputs to strategy.
Good, you have begun to know what you want. (You can always change
what you want later on, but until you have begun to shape objectives
for yourself you cannot learn to make strategy.) Now you can learn to
think about what you want in a systematic way.
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