|
LeylaHadiFirstPaper 9 - 20 Jul 2013 - Main.LeylaHadi
|
| |
| META TOPICPARENT | name="FirstPaper" |
|---|
| |
<
< | Working within the Rigidly Ridiculous System | >
> | Finding My Way Through the Rigidly Ridiculous System | | |
-- By Leyla Hadi - 25 Feb 2013 | | | I still have very little idea of where I see myself taking my career, but I have reached a point where it is something I actively want to think about and question, as opposed to how I felt at the beginning of the semester. Like I mentioned in earlier drafts of this paper, there are very many areas I find interesting, worthwhile, or both. Of them, I will probably edge towards working for LGBT, women, or immigrant rights, or in the entertainment industry. One substantial, the other only a personal interest. I think, if I am to work at a firm, I should either try and work in litigation or in labor/employment. If I ultimately want to go into public interest, having a litigation background is going to do me more good (even if a small amount) than a corporate/transactional background. Because there is always that gun to my head, I have to go down a path. Maybe working at a firm won't actually do anything for me; maybe all it will do is make me miserable. Maybe I will only truly appreciate the benefits of an independent path once I have been in chains.
| |
<
< | How the Hell Do I Get There | >
> | To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself.
- Soren Kierkegaard | | | The short-term plan is less clear than the long-term. I know I want to do good. Despite my general pessimistic attitude about the world, and despite my belief that greedy rich white men will always run the world, I can make a difference, even if it impacts a handful of people. I was unable to reconcile living in a rigid, ridiculous system that can't be penetrated (and thus one which we must do our best to stay afloat), with the idea that I can still help a few people without sacrificing myself and my happiness. For years, I felt guilt for not moving back to Pakistan, and eventually dealt with it by saying I come first, not the people of that country, and because I come first I will stay here so I can live a better life. Which in turn changed my view regarding my role in the world into a black-and-white, selfish or selfless existence. | |
<
< | The paralysis has finally ended. I spent this first year of school making the motions, doing what needed to be done. I was passive. Even though I don't know where I'm going, or even the exact steps of how to get there, I know I need to start acting. Talk to people, participate in everything I find remotely interesting, explore, reflect. Maybe I'm stuck in the system, most people are. But I've already broken out of one system. I now know I shouldn't throw my hands up in defeat within another. | >
> | The paralysis has finally ended. I spent this first year of school making the motions, doing what needed to be done. I was passive. Even though I don't know where I'm going, or even the exact steps of how to get there, I know I need to start acting. Talk to people, participate in everything I find remotely interesting, explore, reflect. Maybe I'm stuck in the system, most people are. But I've already broken out of one system. I now know I shouldn't throw my hands up in defeat within another. Question, dare, not lose myself. | | | |
|
|
LeylaHadiFirstPaper 8 - 14 Jul 2013 - Main.LeylaHadi
|
| |
| META TOPICPARENT | name="FirstPaper" |
|---|
| | | -- By Leyla Hadi - 25 Feb 2013 | |
<
< | What I Want | >
> | What I Want | | | My career isn't the most important thing to me. I don't want it to be. But I want it to be important, and I want it to be meaningful, and I don't think I want to be "influential". | |
<
< | I believe I have found the person with whom I want to walk through this magical and abysmal world; and so, to deal with the practical, real world stuff, I want to be able to make money so that we can live well. That includes paying off debt, which is something I've never dealt with before, and terrifies the crap out of me. That also includes the unconventional realities of a same-sex relationship: the $2400 fees for a three month "subscription" to a sperm bank which allows you to receive extensive details about the donor. The expenses that come with insemination. | >
> | I believe I have found the person with whom I want to walk through this magical and abysmal world; and so, to deal with the practical, real world stuff, I want to be able to make money so that we can live well. That includes paying off debt, which is something I've never dealt with before, and terrifies the crap out of me. That also includes the unconventional realities of a same-sex relationship: the $2400 fees for a three month "subscription" to a sperm bank which allows you to receive extensive details about the donor. The expenses that come with insemination. Et cetera. | | | I'll do what I have to do for a while to make money. I'll meet people to expand my network, I'll educate myself, and I'll question often and hard what I want, what I'm working towards, whether I'm happy, whether I'm helping the people I want to be helping, how I can take the next steps to get where I want to go. This semester provided me with enough education to know to be aware of the ways people are stunted and inhibited from networking and learning necessary skills to become independent lawyers. | |
<
< | Distorted version: I wanted to do something challenging with my career, but, being twenty-one, I wasn't sure what that was, and I didn't want to force myself down a particular route. People I spoke with advised me to consider law school, where I would be in a challenging environment that would open many more doors for me. So, I took their advice and took a year off in between to work at a law firm and see if I could see myself in the legal world. Turns out, I could.
Truth: I decided to go to law school because I had no idea what else to do with my life. I knew that I wanted to stay in the US. I knew that I wanted to do something. A part of me wanted to do good/fight for issues that I care strongly about. Another wanted to get rich. Another wanted to act. The world was my oyster; but not really, because life puts a gun to your head and forces you to make decisions. Practical stuff gets in the way. A visa. Money. Stability.
If the world were my oyster, I definitely would not be in law school. | | | What type of law do you see yourself practicing and/or where do you see yourself taking your career? | |
<
< | Distorted version: I am actually not sure what I would like to do. I definitely find areas of practice interesting, including IP and labor law, but I haven't had enough exposure to really be able to say at this time. | >
> | If the world were my oyster, I definitely would not be in law school. Here I am though. And very lucky to be. I have spent the last few weeks working at a regional firm in Rochester, receiving assignments that entail researching various issues and writing numerous memoranda. Unexpectedly, I have enjoyed it. I like the process of figuring out the answer, molding the facts, presenting the logic behind my argument. Unfortunately, I find myself falling asleep reading certain cases because I don't find the topic interesting in the least. I don't necessarily care about the solution, or the clients for whom I'm looking. | | | | |
<
< | Truth: I have no idea where I see myself taking my career; and I have no idea what type of law I see myself practicing. I want to figure it out, and the classes thus far have done little to help. Granted, there are a ton of resources here, from professors, to clinics, to courses. But how does any of it help me decide, help me with the choice? How will working at your firm this summer guide me? It won't. LGBT rights, immigration reform, criminal justice system reform, advocating against the death penalty, advocating for the legalization of marijuana, education reform, working with music leasing, bringing down evil corporations, working on US-Pakistan relations, representing the Lakers, representing celebrities, abortion… there is so much I am interested in but again, there's a gun to my head. I can't just jump from each area like I live in some kind of gargantuan legal rotational system. I have to go down a path. Even if I do end up working at a firm, how do I know where to go that will help me learn about any of the above? | >
> | I still have very little idea of where I see myself taking my career, but I have reached a point where it is something I actively want to think about and question, as opposed to how I felt at the beginning of the semester. Like I mentioned in earlier drafts of this paper, there are very many areas I find interesting, worthwhile, or both. Of them, I will probably edge towards working for LGBT, women, or immigrant rights, or in the entertainment industry. One substantial, the other only a personal interest. I think, if I am to work at a firm, I should either try and work in litigation or in labor/employment. If I ultimately want to go into public interest, having a litigation background is going to do me more good (even if a small amount) than a corporate/transactional background. Because there is always that gun to my head, I have to go down a path. Maybe working at a firm won't actually do anything for me; maybe all it will do is make me miserable. Maybe I will only truly appreciate the benefits of an independent path once I have been in chains. | | | How the Hell Do I Get There | |
<
< | I do have a general pessimistic attitude about the world, and do believe that forces of evil have made the world, and will continue to make the world, a very bad and sad place. But my last draft was defeatist nonsense, and I don't know why I realized that so soon after reading the comments, or why I had convinced myself of that for so long. I don't know as yet if I will actually accomplish change in the grand scheme of things -- if I will make an impact on the world at large, or at least, some part of the ridiculous system and structure through which we march on. But, I should do good, for a few people, for people who need it. I should because I believe in good, and because I will be in a position to do good.
But this realization brings about a barrage of other questions and issues to sort out and really figure out. If I know that I need to be an employee for the next few years, if I know that I want to make money to get this phantom Debt out of my head and to eventually support a family, how will I figure out what I really want to do and how do I utilize the next two years at this establishment to help me get there? The next steps seem so rigid. I don't want to be boxed up doing just one thing.
You needed to erase my
prior comments, which made no sense interlineated with your revised
draft. I've cleaned that up. | >
> | The short-term plan is less clear than the long-term. I know I want to do good. Despite my general pessimistic attitude about the world, and despite my belief that greedy rich white men will always run the world, I can make a difference, even if it impacts a handful of people. I was unable to reconcile living in a rigid, ridiculous system that can't be penetrated (and thus one which we must do our best to stay afloat), with the idea that I can still help a few people without sacrificing myself and my happiness. For years, I felt guilt for not moving back to Pakistan, and eventually dealt with it by saying I come first, not the people of that country, and because I come first I will stay here so I can live a better life. Which in turn changed my view regarding my role in the world into a black-and-white, selfish or selfless existence. | | | | |
<
< | This draft reflects the confusion better that underlay some
unnecessarily energetic pronouncements last draft. Considering,
imaginatively, some roles you could play, some work you could do, is
the necessary first step. Birds still in the nest dream of flying.
It is not, of course, precisely how you dream it will be. But there
is never a moment when you box yourself in without knowing, without
making decisions you could reimagine rather than submitting to. | >
> | The paralysis has finally ended. I spent this first year of school making the motions, doing what needed to be done. I was passive. Even though I don't know where I'm going, or even the exact steps of how to get there, I know I need to start acting. Talk to people, participate in everything I find remotely interesting, explore, reflect. Maybe I'm stuck in the system, most people are. But I've already broken out of one system. I now know I shouldn't throw my hands up in defeat within another. | | | | |
<
< | | | | |
|
|
LeylaHadiFirstPaper 7 - 13 Jul 2013 - Main.LeylaHadi
|
| |
| META TOPICPARENT | name="FirstPaper" |
|---|
| | | -- By Leyla Hadi - 25 Feb 2013 | |
<
< | Questions and Answers at Interviews | | | | |
<
< | I have been on a few job interviews for a summer position now. Why did you decide to go to law school? What type of law do you see yourself practicing and/or where do you see yourself taking your career? These questions require me to distort the truth when I respond, because the raw truth of those answers wouldn't be appropriate at a job interview. So, I say the truth, but in the best possible light. | >
> | What I Want
My career isn't the most important thing to me. I don't want it to be. But I want it to be important, and I want it to be meaningful, and I don't think I want to be "influential". | | | | |
<
< | Why did you decide to go to law school? | >
> | I believe I have found the person with whom I want to walk through this magical and abysmal world; and so, to deal with the practical, real world stuff, I want to be able to make money so that we can live well. That includes paying off debt, which is something I've never dealt with before, and terrifies the crap out of me. That also includes the unconventional realities of a same-sex relationship: the $2400 fees for a three month "subscription" to a sperm bank which allows you to receive extensive details about the donor. The expenses that come with insemination.
I'll do what I have to do for a while to make money. I'll meet people to expand my network, I'll educate myself, and I'll question often and hard what I want, what I'm working towards, whether I'm happy, whether I'm helping the people I want to be helping, how I can take the next steps to get where I want to go. This semester provided me with enough education to know to be aware of the ways people are stunted and inhibited from networking and learning necessary skills to become independent lawyers. | | | Distorted version: I wanted to do something challenging with my career, but, being twenty-one, I wasn't sure what that was, and I didn't want to force myself down a particular route. People I spoke with advised me to consider law school, where I would be in a challenging environment that would open many more doors for me. So, I took their advice and took a year off in between to work at a law firm and see if I could see myself in the legal world. Turns out, I could. | | | Truth: I have no idea where I see myself taking my career; and I have no idea what type of law I see myself practicing. I want to figure it out, and the classes thus far have done little to help. Granted, there are a ton of resources here, from professors, to clinics, to courses. But how does any of it help me decide, help me with the choice? How will working at your firm this summer guide me? It won't. LGBT rights, immigration reform, criminal justice system reform, advocating against the death penalty, advocating for the legalization of marijuana, education reform, working with music leasing, bringing down evil corporations, working on US-Pakistan relations, representing the Lakers, representing celebrities, abortion… there is so much I am interested in but again, there's a gun to my head. I can't just jump from each area like I live in some kind of gargantuan legal rotational system. I have to go down a path. Even if I do end up working at a firm, how do I know where to go that will help me learn about any of the above? | |
<
< | What I Want
My career isn't the most important thing to me. I don't want it to be. But I want it to be important, and I want it to be meaningful, and I don't think I want to be "influential".
The people in my life are more important. And naive as it may seem, I believe I have found the person I want to walk through this ridiculous and magical and abysmal world with; and so for me, to deal with the practical, real world stuff, I want to be able to make money so that we can live well. That includes paying off debt, which is something I've never had to deal with before, and terrifies the crap out of me. I'll do what I have to do for a while. And then, I can do some of the more interesting stuff, when I can afford to. But I have realized that meaning in my life will also, necessarily, derive from work. So since I am here, and I have two years to go, I better do what I can to figure it out. | | | How the Hell Do I Get There
I do have a general pessimistic attitude about the world, and do believe that forces of evil have made the world, and will continue to make the world, a very bad and sad place. But my last draft was defeatist nonsense, and I don't know why I realized that so soon after reading the comments, or why I had convinced myself of that for so long. I don't know as yet if I will actually accomplish change in the grand scheme of things -- if I will make an impact on the world at large, or at least, some part of the ridiculous system and structure through which we march on. But, I should do good, for a few people, for people who need it. I should because I believe in good, and because I will be in a position to do good. |
|
|
LeylaHadiFirstPaper 6 - 16 Jun 2013 - Main.EbenMoglen
|
| |
| META TOPICPARENT | name="FirstPaper" |
|---|
| | | Truth: I have no idea where I see myself taking my career; and I have no idea what type of law I see myself practicing. I want to figure it out, and the classes thus far have done little to help. Granted, there are a ton of resources here, from professors, to clinics, to courses. But how does any of it help me decide, help me with the choice? How will working at your firm this summer guide me? It won't. LGBT rights, immigration reform, criminal justice system reform, advocating against the death penalty, advocating for the legalization of marijuana, education reform, working with music leasing, bringing down evil corporations, working on US-Pakistan relations, representing the Lakers, representing celebrities, abortion… there is so much I am interested in but again, there's a gun to my head. I can't just jump from each area like I live in some kind of gargantuan legal rotational system. I have to go down a path. Even if I do end up working at a firm, how do I know where to go that will help me learn about any of the above? | |
<
< |
How do we know this is "the truth"? It seems to at least one reader like defeatist nonsense. How can we
bridge the difference or find out which view is more "true"?
| | | What I Want
My career isn't the most important thing to me. I don't want it to be. But I want it to be important, and I want it to be meaningful, and I don't think I want to be "influential". | |
<
< |
Why "shame"? Who's shame? Nothing for those people to be ashamed of for whom their work provides their lives with its most important meaning. Whether that's 51% of the meaning or 99% is nothing for us to be judging or for them to feel judged about: the issue for judgment, on all sides, is what that meaning is.
| | | The people in my life are more important. And naive as it may seem, I believe I have found the person I want to walk through this ridiculous and magical and abysmal world with; and so for me, to deal with the practical, real world stuff, I want to be able to make money so that we can live well. That includes paying off debt, which is something I've never had to deal with before, and terrifies the crap out of me. I'll do what I have to do for a while. And then, I can do some of the more interesting stuff, when I can afford to. But I have realized that meaning in my life will also, necessarily, derive from work. So since I am here, and I have two years to go, I better do what I can to figure it out. | |
<
< |
But the people we love when we are young we often do not love at all when we have grown and they have not, or they have grown and we have not. The divorce rate is 50% where happiness and self-development are cultural priorities, and if I had a penny for every marriage in non-divorcing cultures that turns sexless, joyless and oppressive the moment the first boy-child is born, I could support both you and me in comfort for the rest of our lives. Children grow up and leave, often having found the parents who love them neither interesting nor tolerable. You can say that the meaning of your life will be found not in work you value, but in the people you love. That's probably as naive and unrealistic a statement as to hold that only meaningful work matters, and that human relationships are irrelevant in a life well lived.
Why would we frame the question in these terms? First, why should we put meaningful work any less or more in the front of our ambitions than human relationships we value? (Second, of course, why should we put the pitiful illusion of the monogamous nuclear family forward as the ideal or desirable type of human relationship structure necessary for the living of a good life?) You should have a life filled with work that matters to you and suffuses your life with meaning. You should also have loving companions, exciting sex partners, and people to educate, care for, and share life with. Those should not be opposed poles; they are objectives, equally important, which the strategy of your life deploys all available resources to achieve.
| | | How the Hell Do I Get There
I do have a general pessimistic attitude about the world, and do believe that forces of evil have made the world, and will continue to make the world, a very bad and sad place. But my last draft was defeatist nonsense, and I don't know why I realized that so soon after reading the comments, or why I had convinced myself of that for so long. I don't know as yet if I will actually accomplish change in the grand scheme of things -- if I will make an impact on the world at large, or at least, some part of the ridiculous system and structure through which we march on. But, I should do good, for a few people, for people who need it. I should because I believe in good, and because I will be in a position to do good.
But this realization brings about a barrage of other questions and issues to sort out and really figure out. If I know that I need to be an employee for the next few years, if I know that I want to make money to get this phantom Debt out of my head and to eventually support a family, how will I figure out what I really want to do and how do I utilize the next two years at this establishment to help me get there? The next steps seem so rigid. I don't want to be boxed up doing just one thing. | |
<
< |
Maybe what is? This sentence has no subject. As for the predicate, Manichean worldview, it's perfectly compatible with happiness and meaningful existence. As Ambrose Bierce joked in The Devil's Dictionary, the Manichean can always decide to join the victorious forces of darkness. Or one can do the other thing. I haven't the slightest idea whether the justice for which I'm working is going to triumph or be destroyed in my lifetime, whether the young people I teach are going to grow strong and determined for justice, or be pushed down and wiped out. I have no way of knowing whether my life's work will come to fruition or be reduced to ashes. But the effort is meaningful to me, for its own sake, every day.
Maybe, but done at the start of one's adult life, it's not very informative, when so much else remains to be decided on the basis of so little.
Are you sure that's a fair characterization of the elements of a manslaughter conviction?
I don't understand the two instances of "worry" in this sentence as
synonymous. The way one thinks about a problem one is solving and
the anxiety one experiences in an intimate relationship can both be
described as "worry," but to do so is to confuse matters rather
than illuminating them. As you will find when the time comes, the
two forms of human interaction can be mutually-reinforcing rather
than competitive. In particular, the presence of work that lends
meaning to life helps one to reduce the anxiety that transfuses the
intimate relationships, perhaps even allowing one to stop worrying
quite so much about the people one loves, which is good for them.
| | | | |
<
< | The draft is valuable, precisely because we should now be able to
move beyond it in the next one. The snowdrift of rationalizations
that the language throws up will melt in the sunshine, or can at
worst be carted away. That will leave us standing on a clean
slate, damp at most. Having blown away the idea that personal
satisfaction in relationships is opposed in any way to the search
for meaningful work, we can begin to address the question as one of
strategy, which is what it is: Possessed of certain resources, and
given these two objectives, how should I structure my practice so
as to attain as much of both my objectives as I can within the
reach of my resources?
The immigration question, on the other hand, is a tactical
question. A specific limited objective must be reached given
particular resources specifically limited. As Robinson says, a
lawyer is a person who knows how to solve a legal problem. You and
I should talk about this one in the near future. | >
> | You needed to erase my
prior comments, which made no sense interlineated with your revised
draft. I've cleaned that up.
This draft reflects the confusion better that underlay some
unnecessarily energetic pronouncements last draft. Considering,
imaginatively, some roles you could play, some work you could do, is
the necessary first step. Birds still in the nest dream of flying.
It is not, of course, precisely how you dream it will be. But there
is never a moment when you box yourself in without knowing, without
making decisions you could reimagine rather than submitting to. | | |
|
|
|
LeylaHadiFirstPaper 5 - 08 Apr 2013 - Main.LeylaHadi
|
| |
| META TOPICPARENT | name="FirstPaper" |
|---|
| | |
| |
<
< | Why | >
> | How the Hell Do I Get There | | | | |
<
< | Maybe it is my general pessimistic attitude about the world and how forces of evil are more powerful than forces of good, even though the forces of good are still definitely forces, creating change, moving us forward as a civilization in which people are more important than the whims and fancies of corporations and governments. | >
> | I do have a general pessimistic attitude about the world, and do believe that forces of evil have made the world, and will continue to make the world, a very bad and sad place. But my last draft was defeatist nonsense, and I don't know why I realized that so soon after reading the comments, or why I had convinced myself of that for so long. I don't know as yet if I will actually accomplish change in the grand scheme of things -- if I will make an impact on the world at large, or at least, some part of the ridiculous system and structure through which we march on. But, I should do good, for a few people, for people who need it. I should because I believe in good, and because I will be in a position to do good. | | | | |
>
> | But this realization brings about a barrage of other questions and issues to sort out and really figure out. If I know that I need to be an employee for the next few years, if I know that I want to make money to get this phantom Debt out of my head and to eventually support a family, how will I figure out what I really want to do and how do I utilize the next two years at this establishment to help me get there? The next steps seem so rigid. I don't want to be boxed up doing just one thing. | | | | | |
| |
<
< | Maybe I have realized that the structure of the way we exist as humans is totally absurd and mind-boggling, and we just have to do what we can to fit into it and play by its rules, and live in society, and go to school, and get a job, and have a family. Maybe I just don't think that it's worth my time to fight for a miniscule piece of change in this giant system of ridiculousness and wrongs right now, and that, right now, I need to pay off my debts, find a job that will sponsor my work visa, and try and learn as much as I can while I do it. Learn what not to become maybe – there's sometimes more value in that than learning what to become. | | |
Maybe, but done at the start of one's adult life, it's not very informative, when so much else remains to be decided on the basis of so little.
| |
<
< | I suppose the answer to what kind of lawyer I want to be is a happy one. When we first received the prompt for this assignment, I wrote down the various topic ideas that came to mind, either through reading cases or general observations. For example, I thought of manslaughter and how sad it is that someone can be thrown into prison for a pure accident, | | |
Are you sure that's a fair characterization of the elements of a manslaughter conviction?
| |
<
< | and why it exists and how to change it. But I'm sure thousands of people have had the same thoughts, and yet, it still exists. Change is hard. Right now, I can't worry about changing a world that might not exist tomorrow. I can just worry about me and the people I love. | | |
I don't understand the two instances of "worry" in this sentence as |
|
|
LeylaHadiFirstPaper 4 - 31 Mar 2013 - Main.LeylaHadi
|
| |
| META TOPICPARENT | name="FirstPaper" |
|---|
| | | Distorted version: I am actually not sure what I would like to do. I definitely find areas of practice interesting, including IP and labor law, but I haven't had enough exposure to really be able to say at this time. | |
<
< | Truth: I have no idea where I see myself taking my career; and I have no idea what type of law I see myself practicing. Yes, there are a ton of areas I could potentially find interesting: LGBT rights, immigration reform, criminal justice system reform, advocating against the death penalty, advocating for the legalization of marijuana, education reform, working with music leasing, bringing down evil corporations, working on US-Pakistan relations, representing the Lakers, representing celebrities, abortion… there is so much I am interested in but again, there's a gun to my head. I can't just jump from each area like I live in some kind of gargantuan legal rotational system. I have to go down a path; and, despite the many possibilities listed above, the path probably won't include any of the above. I'll probably end up working at a firm, hopefully not a big one, and go where the path then takes me. Drags me? | >
> | Truth: I have no idea where I see myself taking my career; and I have no idea what type of law I see myself practicing. I want to figure it out, and the classes thus far have done little to help. Granted, there are a ton of resources here, from professors, to clinics, to courses. But how does any of it help me decide, help me with the choice? How will working at your firm this summer guide me? It won't. LGBT rights, immigration reform, criminal justice system reform, advocating against the death penalty, advocating for the legalization of marijuana, education reform, working with music leasing, bringing down evil corporations, working on US-Pakistan relations, representing the Lakers, representing celebrities, abortion… there is so much I am interested in but again, there's a gun to my head. I can't just jump from each area like I live in some kind of gargantuan legal rotational system. I have to go down a path. Even if I do end up working at a firm, how do I know where to go that will help me learn about any of the above? | | | | | | What I Want | |
<
< | My career isn't the most important thing to me. It's a shame that it is for so many people. | >
> | My career isn't the most important thing to me. I don't want it to be. But I want it to be important, and I want it to be meaningful, and I don't think I want to be "influential". | | |
| | |
| |
<
< | I'll do what I end up doing, and yes, it will probably be a big part of my life; but the people in my life are more important. If I can come home to the person I love every day for the rest of my life, who cares what I do to make some money so that we can live comfortably; no, well. If we can be good parents and be in love with our kids, and make sure that they have the best life possible, then I'll do what I have to do for a while. And then, maybe I can do some of the more interesting stuff, when I can afford to. | >
> | The people in my life are more important. And naive as it may seem, I believe I have found the person I want to walk through this ridiculous and magical and abysmal world with; and so for me, to deal with the practical, real world stuff, I want to be able to make money so that we can live well. That includes paying off debt, which is something I've never had to deal with before, and terrifies the crap out of me. I'll do what I have to do for a while. And then, I can do some of the more interesting stuff, when I can afford to. But I have realized that meaning in my life will also, necessarily, derive from work. So since I am here, and I have two years to go, I better do what I can to figure it out. | | |
|
|
|
LeylaHadiFirstPaper 3 - 26 Mar 2013 - Main.EbenMoglen
|
| |
| META TOPICPARENT | name="FirstPaper" |
|---|
| |
>
> | | | | Working within the Rigidly Ridiculous System
-- By Leyla Hadi - 25 Feb 2013 | |
>
> | Questions and Answers at Interviews | | | | |
<
< | I. Questions and Answers at Interviews | >
> | I have been on a few job interviews for a summer position now. Why did you decide to go to law school? What type of law do you see yourself practicing and/or where do you see yourself taking your career? These questions require me to distort the truth when I respond, because the raw truth of those answers wouldn't be appropriate at a job interview. So, I say the truth, but in the best possible light. | | | | |
<
< | A. Why did you decide to go to law school? | >
> | Why did you decide to go to law school? | | | | |
<
< | 1. Distortion | >
> | Distorted version: I wanted to do something challenging with my career, but, being twenty-one, I wasn't sure what that was, and I didn't want to force myself down a particular route. People I spoke with advised me to consider law school, where I would be in a challenging environment that would open many more doors for me. So, I took their advice and took a year off in between to work at a law firm and see if I could see myself in the legal world. Turns out, I could. | | | | |
<
< | 2. Truth | >
> | Truth: I decided to go to law school because I had no idea what else to do with my life. I knew that I wanted to stay in the US. I knew that I wanted to do something. A part of me wanted to do good/fight for issues that I care strongly about. Another wanted to get rich. Another wanted to act. The world was my oyster; but not really, because life puts a gun to your head and forces you to make decisions. Practical stuff gets in the way. A visa. Money. Stability. | | | | |
<
< | B. What type of law do you see yourself practicing and/or where do you see yourself taking your career? | >
> | If the world were my oyster, I definitely would not be in law school. | | | | |
<
< | 1. Distortion | >
> | What type of law do you see yourself practicing and/or where do you see yourself taking your career? | | | | |
<
< | 2. Truth | >
> | Distorted version: I am actually not sure what I would like to do. I definitely find areas of practice interesting, including IP and labor law, but I haven't had enough exposure to really be able to say at this time. | | | | |
<
< | II. What I Want | >
> | Truth: I have no idea where I see myself taking my career; and I have no idea what type of law I see myself practicing. Yes, there are a ton of areas I could potentially find interesting: LGBT rights, immigration reform, criminal justice system reform, advocating against the death penalty, advocating for the legalization of marijuana, education reform, working with music leasing, bringing down evil corporations, working on US-Pakistan relations, representing the Lakers, representing celebrities, abortion… there is so much I am interested in but again, there's a gun to my head. I can't just jump from each area like I live in some kind of gargantuan legal rotational system. I have to go down a path; and, despite the many possibilities listed above, the path probably won't include any of the above. I'll probably end up working at a firm, hopefully not a big one, and go where the path then takes me. Drags me? | | | | |
<
< | A. Why | | | | |
<
< |
I. Questions and Answers at Interviews
| >
> | | | | | |
<
< | I have been on a few job interviews for a summer position now. Why did you decide to go to law school? What type of law do you see yourself practicing and/or where do you see yourself taking your career? These questions require me to distort the truth when I respond, because the raw truth of those answers wouldn’t be appropriate at a job interview. So, I say the truth, but in the best possible light. | >
> | How do we know this is "the truth"? It seems to at least one reader like defeatist nonsense. How can we
bridge the difference or find out which view is more "true"? | | | | |
<
< |
A. Why did you decide to go to law school? | >
> | | | | | |
<
< |
Distorted version: I wanted to do something challenging with my career, but, being twenty one, I wasn’t sure what that was, and I didn’t want to force myself down a particular route. People I spoke with advised me to consider law school, where I would be in a challenging environment that would open many more doors for me. So, I took their advice and took a year off in between to work at a law firm and see if I could see myself in the legal world. Turns out, I could. | | | | |
<
< | Truth: I decided to go to law school because I had no idea what else to do with my life. I knew that I wanted to stay in the US. I knew that I wanted to do something. A part of me wanted to do good/fight for issues that I care strongly about. Another wanted to get rich. Another wanted to act. The world was my oyster; but not really, because life puts a gun to your head and forces you to make decisions. Practical stuff gets in the way. A visa. Money. Stability. | >
> | What I Want | | | | |
<
< | If the world were my oyster, I definitely would not be in law school. | >
> | My career isn't the most important thing to me. It's a shame that it is for so many people.
Why "shame"? Who's shame? Nothing for those people to be ashamed of for whom their work provides their lives with its most important meaning. Whether that's 51% of the meaning or 99% is nothing for us to be judging or for them to feel judged about: the issue for judgment, on all sides, is what that meaning is.
I'll do what I end up doing, and yes, it will probably be a big part of my life; but the people in my life are more important. If I can come home to the person I love every day for the rest of my life, who cares what I do to make some money so that we can live comfortably; no, well. If we can be good parents and be in love with our kids, and make sure that they have the best life possible, then I'll do what I have to do for a while. And then, maybe I can do some of the more interesting stuff, when I can afford to.
But the people we love when we are young we often do not love at all when we have grown and they have not, or they have grown and we have not. The divorce rate is 50% where happiness and self-development are cultural priorities, and if I had a penny for every marriage in non-divorcing cultures that turns sexless, joyless and oppressive the moment the first boy-child is born, I could support both you and me in comfort for the rest of our lives. Children grow up and leave, often having found the parents who love them neither interesting nor tolerable. You can say that the meaning of your life will be found not in work you value, but in the people you love. That's probably as naive and unrealistic a statement as to hold that only meaningful work matters, and that human relationships are irrelevant in a life well lived.
Why would we frame the question in these terms? First, why should we put meaningful work any less or more in the front of our ambitions than human relationships we value? (Second, of course, why should we put the pitiful illusion of the monogamous nuclear family forward as the ideal or desirable type of human relationship structure necessary for the living of a good life?) You should have a life filled with work that matters to you and suffuses your life with meaning. You should also have loving companions, exciting sex partners, and people to educate, care for, and share life with. Those should not be opposed poles; they are objectives, equally important, which the strategy of your life deploys all available resources to achieve.
Why
Maybe it is my general pessimistic attitude about the world and how forces of evil are more powerful than forces of good, even though the forces of good are still definitely forces, creating change, moving us forward as a civilization in which people are more important than the whims and fancies of corporations and governments.
Maybe what is? This sentence has no subject. As for the predicate, Manichean worldview, it's perfectly compatible with happiness and meaningful existence. As Ambrose Bierce joked in The Devil's Dictionary, the Manichean can always decide to join the victorious forces of darkness. Or one can do the other thing. I haven't the slightest idea whether the justice for which I'm working is going to triumph or be destroyed in my lifetime, whether the young people I teach are going to grow strong and determined for justice, or be pushed down and wiped out. I have no way of knowing whether my life's work will come to fruition or be reduced to ashes. But the effort is meaningful to me, for its own sake, every day.
Maybe I have realized that the structure of the way we exist as humans is totally absurd and mind-boggling, and we just have to do what we can to fit into it and play by its rules, and live in society, and go to school, and get a job, and have a family. Maybe I just don't think that it's worth my time to fight for a miniscule piece of change in this giant system of ridiculousness and wrongs right now, and that, right now, I need to pay off my debts, find a job that will sponsor my work visa, and try and learn as much as I can while I do it. Learn what not to become maybe – there's sometimes more value in that than learning what to become.
Maybe, but done at the start of one's adult life, it's not very informative, when so much else remains to be decided on the basis of so little.
I suppose the answer to what kind of lawyer I want to be is a happy one. When we first received the prompt for this assignment, I wrote down the various topic ideas that came to mind, either through reading cases or general observations. For example, I thought of manslaughter and how sad it is that someone can be thrown into prison for a pure accident,
Are you sure that's a fair characterization of the elements of a manslaughter conviction?
and why it exists and how to change it. But I'm sure thousands of people have had the same thoughts, and yet, it still exists. Change is hard. Right now, I can't worry about changing a world that might not exist tomorrow. I can just worry about me and the people I love.
I don't understand the two instances of "worry" in this sentence as
synonymous. The way one thinks about a problem one is solving and
the anxiety one experiences in an intimate relationship can both be
described as "worry," but to do so is to confuse matters rather
than illuminating them. As you will find when the time comes, the
two forms of human interaction can be mutually-reinforcing rather
than competitive. In particular, the presence of work that lends
meaning to life helps one to reduce the anxiety that transfuses the
intimate relationships, perhaps even allowing one to stop worrying
quite so much about the people one loves, which is good for them. | | | | |
<
< |
B. What type of law do you see yourself practicing and/or where do you see yourself taking your career? | >
> | | | | | |
<
< |
Distorted version: I am actually not sure what I would like to do. I definitely find areas of practice interesting, including IP and labor law, but I haven’t had enough exposure to really be able to say at this time. | >
> |
| | | | |
<
< | Truth: I have no idea where I see myself taking my career; and I have no idea what type of law I see myself practicing. Yes, there are a ton of areas I could potentially find interesting: LGBT rights, immigration reform, criminal justice system reform, advocating against the death penalty, advocating for the legalization of marijuana, education reform, working with music leasing, bringing down evil corporations, working on US-Pakistan relations, representing the Lakers, representing celebrities, abortion… there is so much I am interested in but again, there’s a gun to my head. I can’t just jump from each area like I live in some kind of gargantuan legal rotational system. I have to go down a path; and, despite the many possibilities listed above, the path probably won’t include any of the above. I’ll probably end up working at a firm, hopefully not a big one, and go where the path then takes me. Drags me? | | | | |
<
< |
II. What I Want | >
> | | | | | |
<
< |
My career isn’t the most important thing to me. It’s a shame that it is for so many people. I’ll do what I end up doing, and yes, it will probably be a big part of my life; but the people in my life are more important. If I can come home to the person I love every day for the rest of my life, who cares what I do to make some money so that we can live comfortably; no, well. If we can be good parents and be in love with our kids, and make sure that they have the best life possible, then I’ll do what I have to do for a while. And then, maybe I can do some of the more interesting stuff, when I can afford to. | >
> | The draft is valuable, precisely because we should now be able to
move beyond it in the next one. The snowdrift of rationalizations
that the language throws up will melt in the sunshine, or can at
worst be carted away. That will leave us standing on a clean
slate, damp at most. Having blown away the idea that personal
satisfaction in relationships is opposed in any way to the search
for meaningful work, we can begin to address the question as one of
strategy, which is what it is: Possessed of certain resources, and
given these two objectives, how should I structure my practice so
as to attain as much of both my objectives as I can within the
reach of my resources? | | | | |
<
< |
A. Why | >
> | The immigration question, on the other hand, is a tactical
question. A specific limited objective must be reached given
particular resources specifically limited. As Robinson says, a
lawyer is a person who knows how to solve a legal problem. You and
I should talk about this one in the near future. | | | | |
<
< |
Maybe it is my general pessimistic attitude about the world and how forces of evil are more powerful than forces of good, even though the forces of good are still definitely forces, creating change, moving us forward as a civilization in which people are more important than the whims and fancies of corporations and governments. Maybe I have realized that the structure of the way we exist as humans is totally absurd and mind-boggling, and we just have to do what we can to fit into it and play by its rules, and live in society, and go to school, and get a job, and have a family. Maybe I just don’t think that it’s worth my time to fight for a miniscule piece of change in this giant system of ridiculousness and wrongs right now, and that, right now, I need to pay off my debts, find a job that will sponsor my work visa, and try and learn as much as I can while I do it. Learn what not to become maybe – there’s sometimes more value in that than learning what to become. | >
> | | | | | |
<
< | I suppose the answer to what kind of lawyer I want to be is a happy one. When we first received the prompt for this assignment, I wrote down the various topic ideas that came to mind, either through reading cases or general observations. For example, I thought of manslaughter and how sad it is that someone can be thrown into prison for a pure accident, and why it exists and how to change it. But I’m sure thousands of people have had the same thoughts, and yet, it still exists. Change is hard. Right now, I can’t worry about changing a world that might not exist tomorrow. I can just worry about me and the people I love. | | | \ No newline at end of file |
|
|
LeylaHadiFirstPaper 1 - 25 Feb 2013 - Main.LeylaHadi
|
|
>
> |
| META TOPICPARENT | name="FirstPaper" |
|---|
Working within the Rigidly Ridiculous System
-- By Leyla Hadi - 25 Feb 2013
I. Questions and Answers at Interviews
A. Why did you decide to go to law school?
1. Distortion
2. Truth
B. What type of law do you see yourself practicing and/or where do you see yourself taking your career?
1. Distortion
2. Truth
II. What I Want
A. Why
I. Questions and Answers at Interviews
I have been on a few job interviews for a summer position now. Why did you decide to go to law school? What type of law do you see yourself practicing and/or where do you see yourself taking your career? These questions require me to distort the truth when I respond, because the raw truth of those answers wouldn’t be appropriate at a job interview. So, I say the truth, but in the best possible light.
A. Why did you decide to go to law school?
B. What type of law do you see yourself practicing and/or where do you see yourself taking your career?
|
|
|