Kate is coming home!!!!!!!!!!!!
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adventure
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Kate, Law School, Utah
Posts tagged: Law School
Comments (5) Oh yeah, that’s why I came to law school…
By Kate, 23 December 2009
I sent my personal statement for law school to Jesse my brother in law (father of the fabulously new Little Miss June Bug). So, I decided to post it here. And, yes, in the end they did convince me NOT to use the word eleemosynary. But, as I am still mad about the sacrifice of my favorite word ever, I have left it in this version. ELEEMOSYNARY.
As I lifted the overstuffed bag from my doorstep a pungent waft of citrus caught my senses. The gift of fresh-picked lemons was part of a weekly ritual of food and encouragement delivered by a spry single mother named Fina.
One evening I saw a chance to reciprocate her kindness. Fina was dropping me off at my apartment in Murcia, Spain late one night. Thinking aloud, she mumbled that she didn’t have any milk to give to her children the next morning. I raced upstairs to grab a carton of boxed milk to tide her over, and feeling indebted by her boundless generosity, I threw in another for good measure. I knew that she provided for her children alone and that often money and time were in short supply. She sincerely thanked me and jetted away in her tiny hatchback, down the winding cobblestone street.
A few days later I realized the extent of her eleemosynary nature. She rushed up to me ecstatic about the milk I had given her. As she drove away that night, she explained, she thought of a struggling immigrant family with which she could share the extra box of milk. She had driven it out to their remote home, despite the hour and despite her own shortage.
Fina lives a simple policy: anything excess, she gives away. Her possessions are merely part of a clearinghouse to distribute to those in need. I thought of the many presents left at my door and realized they were likely intended to be just one link in a continuing chain of generosity.
I serendipitously observed a similar approach from perfect strangers a continent away. As I walked down the two-lane Thai costal highway I attempted to quicken my flip-flop sandaled pace. My anxiety over being late for a Tsunami relief-coordination meeting in town caused me to fret, contrary to the evidence that I had tested every day and night for two months–that it would never take more than 200 yards of walking to get a ride. Dead of night, crack of dawn, torrential rain, I had never walked the 5 mile stretch to town.
My unfounded fears were quickly quashed. A mere 50 yards out of my hotel door a moped zipped up behind me and skidded to a stop. The scooter, whose tires were nearly flattened under their burden, a family of three, looked like an unlikely vessel to add a foreigner to its load. The young couple moved their preschool-aged son to a squatting position on the floorboard at the front of the scooter and beckoned to me. With only a slight moment of hesitation, I took his place on the back end.
I tried to condense myself to take up as little space as possible, primarily to mitigate the risk of a crash, but also so I didn’t make the ride unbearable for my generous carpool. Throughout the duration of the ride the driver would cut the engine and coast down hills to conserve precious fuel he clearly didn’t have to spare. Upon arrival, I feverishly offered 200 bhat (about $10) to the young father. He shrugged off the gift and I offered again, almost with desperation. With a face wrinkled with puzzlement, he refused. “You help Thailand, I help you” he explained. It seemed to be his nonchalant way of conveying, “We have transportation, and you needed a ride. That’s how it works.” He clearly didn’t understand my compulsion towards monetary compensation. I had insisted because I felt that if they went on with nothing of mine I would not be able to dull my sense of duty, and throw a token into the chasm between his innate generosity and my convenient giving.
Back in the United States, it was in between frying 35 pounds of bacon slices on an industrial size grill and mixing up a gargantuan batch of blueberry pancakes that I would catch glimpses of Brent. He seemed to play the part of a non-profit director perfectly, with his disheveled business-casual jacket and slacks, constantly scurrying in and out of the old rented building. I greeted him while preparing breakfasts that often included day-old doughnuts. It seemed he was always busy trying to run one step ahead of the next grant ending or to find the next donor for the holiday meals.
As a weekly breakfast volunteer I didn’t have much face time with the administration of the Food and Care Coalition, but I clawed my way into his busy schedule for an interview while completing my senior thesis. As the director of an agency that serves the homeless, I had a hunch he would provide me useful information about why there is no homeless shelter in Utah Valley, the crux of the paper.
While he shied away from the politicized topic of the lack of shelter available, he seemed to be bursting with ideas for programs, services and improvements, all sharing a common theme. He explained that while many non-profit organizations focus on monetary donations, he views donations of time and talent as something that can truly revolutionize a community, empowering both the giver and the recipient. When one of his patrons is desperately in need of a car repair, Brent turns to the community as a storehouse of resources. If a mechanic is found who can contribute his know-how and skills to solve the problem, he as the donor feels a sense of personal investment he would not get from writing an annual check to the Red Cross.
I have learned from dear friends and complete strangers the transforming power of treating seemingly personal skills and resources as contributions to the greater good. I have had the privilege of witnessing the selfless donation of possessions from Fina, the gracious contribution of service the Thai family offered and the sharing knowledge and commitment as exemplified by Brent.
I have seen this generosity in my local community and abroad because I too wish to give. I believe that inaction in the face of current social inequities invites moral censure on each of us individually. I want to chip away at the burden of social accountability I feel. The essential step for me remains the connection between idealism and authenticity. I will continue to give in small everyday ways, but I am seeking a more substantive way to contribute. The study of law will help me bridge the divide between wanting to do good and being an effective steward over my intelligence, opportunities and assets. It will help me gain the analytical expertise needed to understand the macro structure of problems and how best to solve them. I feel confident a legal education will provide me with the skillset I need to more competently contribute to society in a powerful and unique way.
This is what my life was like before… remind me WHY I chose to come to law school again!?!?
By Kate, 9 December 2009
Would you hire me?
By Kate, 31 January 2009
I just found out that I have been granted interviews with 4 of the top 6 organizations that I have applied for a summer job with (there is a huge “Public Interest Career Day” at UCLA next week where they all go to interview law students). They all sound like they do amazingly interesting work.
- The Greenlining Institute: Berkley, CA
- The Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment: San Francisco, CA
- Catholic Legal Immigration Network: LA, CA
- Western Center on Law & Poverty: LA, CA
You may be beginning to sense a theme… namely, poverty. Yep, it’s what I’m interested in, it’s where I want to spend my legal careeer & hence my life (you may be surprised to hear that it’s not the most lucrative of legal areas…strange).
I interview on Saturday next, wish me luck!
(In the picture above I am wearing a new sweater I bought with a kind gift from my Grandmother. Isn’t it fantastic? Don’t worry, I won’t wear it to the interviews! 
)
PS I am still waiting to hear back from my dream DREAM job at The Center for Constitutional Rights in NY, but I haven’t heard anything back yet about that application.
From Pauper to Proper
By Kate, 20 January 2009
Not only did I spend all day shopping for law outfits (lawfits), Neil spent most of the day making this animation. It’s so great. It’s like one of those horrible animated jifs that are never-ending.
Basically, I went to a “How to get a job in the law” workshops at my school. They told us that if we didn’t have a black suit that we had better go out and buy one a-sap. Since I did not own ANYTHING even remotely close to a black suit I took advantage of “civil rights day” (as it is called in Utah) and went shopping.
I now own three suits. The good ol’ black standby so that interviewers will think that I have no personality (because apparently that is what they are looking for?) and two more livin’ on the edge suits.
Can you picture me in a courtroom? Me neither. I look too much like an adult! (except for the far left… that was the outfit I was wearing while shopping for the suits )
A few months back I was asked to be on a panel representing “Mormon youth.” I declined, because I’m not sure a 28 year old married woman can technically be considered a youth…especially in Mormondom. In Mormon-time I should already have 5 children.
I am so torn because being adult is often associated with assimilation. If you can’t conform, you just haven’t grown up yet. If you see an adult man without a typical career, or a woman who voluntarily remains childless you hear that they “just need to grow up.” (Or a suitless law student).
At the workshop where lawyers were teaching us how to get law jobs, one of the panel mentioned the MOST absurd thing he’d ever heard in an interview was a guy asking if he could work 1/2 the time for 1/2 the pay. Everyone laughed at the ABSURDITY of not wanting to assimilate to the 9-5 (6,7,8…) corporate scheme. “How immature.” But, if losing all creativity and zest for life is “growing up” you can officially check me in as a lost boy. Luckily, they could not hear my heart breaking, since that is my ideal work-schedule. I thought it was a brilliant idea up to that very moment. But, I guess wanting to do other things besides work is not very grown up.
I am far from figuring anything out about adulthood, and often still feel like the word adult is not an accurate description of me, but I think at it’s root it has to do with learning selflessness. Perhaps this is why it it so closely associated with child-rearing. Children demand that all of their wants be met. They have a hard time considering the needs of others. They do not want to be even mildly inconvenienced.
Perhaps true “growing up” is not so much a function of chronology, but of character… + one good- looking, expensive suit.
Voluntary Manslaughter
By Kate, 29 November 2008
Just from hearing the words, can you believe that “manslaughter” is a less-worse crime than “murder”? Isn’t manslaughter a much more horrid utterance? Wouldn’t the Grateful Dead’s song be that much creepier if it was, “Pleeeease don’t manslaughter me.”
(Now you see the joys of what I get to contemplate daily. I am stuck in the law library on a beautiful day while my family is out kayaking. So, my mind is permitted to wander from my studies a little. As you can see in my “serious student of the law” pose above…law school rocks!)
Work is for Jerks
By Kate, 23 November 2008
I have a brilliant friend. When I got home from my mission we both decided it would be a good idea to apply to work at Savers (it was). Surprisingly we had to fill out lengthy form applications. (Surprising because I’m not sure what percentage of Savers employees are literate, but from my anecdotal evidence it can’t be that high). Under the “explain a little about yourself” section she wrote, “I love to work hard.” Aside from the extreme hilarity of writing this on an application, even more so a Savers application where hard work for us meant combing racks of people’s old junk & spending our entire meager salaries on treasures like matching gold motorcycle helmets, it became a long standing joke between us… because, seriously, who likes hard work?!??!
If there is one thing that law school has taught me, it’s that I don’t like hard work. In fact, Neil and I pretty much exclusively refer to our employment as “work is for jerks.” IE “Hello. How was ‘work is for jerks’ today? Did you sell anything interesting?” “Oh, man. I have to go to ‘work is for jerks’ early today. I have to get ready for the board meeting.” I know that the advice is always given to do something you “love” as your career. But, who really goes to work thinking EVER, “man I love going to work. It is so much better than lying in a hammock without a care in the world reading a book just for fun.” Is there a person on the planet that feels like they’d rather be working than taking a fall walk with their best friend or enjoying some free time just to think important thoughts????? Is there anyone in America that does not live for their measly 2 weeks of vacation that propels them to work in bumper-to-bumper traffic everyday? Or to get home from the office so that they can watch The Office on TV and commiserate with the masses in solidarity about just how stinky & strange office work can be.
I can think of a lot of things I really do love.
Like the smell of burning candles.
Or our new bling-bling three-tiered fruit basket. Man, I love that thing.
But, I do not love hard work.
Today in my Gospel Principles class I figured out why I am such a bad pray-er & often get caught up in the rote “thanks for everything. please bless everyone so they can get home safely & please bless these doughnuts so they will nourish & strengthen our bodies” even when it’s just Neil & I at home. Prayer is hard work. It says so in the Bible Dictionary. In fact, Brigham Young said, “Prayer is often difficult & strenuous & just plain hard work. One has to break the prayer barrier.”
This is coming from perhaps the one man to grace this planet who perhaps actually enjoyed hard work. (I’m am just drawing assumptions from his stern work-loving expression). Brigham Young aside, is there any person that actually enjoys hard work? If so… let me in on the secret. Or, better yet, you should apply to work at Savers. I hear they are always hiring.
Workin’ 9 to 5
By Kate, 24 October 2008
I just want to encourage everyone who may not have heard Dolly Parton’s song “9 to 5″ in a while to take a listen. Soon. I am workin’ in an office job that I have to commute 30+ minutes to in bumper-to-bumper traffico (another setback of SoCal) and the only way I get by is BLASTING:
Workin 9 to 5
What a way to make a livin
Barely gettin by
Its all takin
And no givin
They just use your mind
And they never give you credit
Its enough to drive you
Crazy if you let it
Let’s not be confused about my musical taste. I have none, I am tasteless & tactless when it comes to tunes. And I am a devoted Dolly fan. Lest anyone forget, I have been to Dollywood. Well, at least to the entrance of Dollywood until I found out the admission price.
When all else fails…this ol’ backwoods barbie gets me through the week.
(In case you were wondering, Dolly is now 62 years old. God bless plastic surgery. [see photo above] Pretty good for a senior citizen, eh? And, you CANNOT argue with the fashion sense!)
Torts
By Kate, 6 October 2008
I wish more of these were offered at USD.
I just want to confirm the rumors: it is true, law school is hard.
Right now I am studying for my Torts class (ok, technically right now I am writing a blog article in an attempt to avoid studying for my Torts class). To give you a little idea of what that is like this is a quote from my current reading:
“Historically, the tort of negligent infliction of emotional distress had raised two concerns: (1) establishing authenticity of the claim and (2) ensuring fairness of the financial burden placed upon a defendant whose conduct was negligent. A court deals with these concerns by exploring in each case such public policy considerations as: (1) whether the injury is too remote from the negligence; (2) whether the injury is wholly out of proportion to the culpability of the negligent tortfeasor; (3) whether in retrospect it appears too extraordinary that the negligence should be too likely to open the was to fraudulent claims…”
There are about a bazillion more points… but, you get the picture. If you were not even slightly tempted to
(a) skip the paragraph
(b) fall asleep
(c) light something on fire
(d) buy a one-way ticket to Mexico & never look back
while reading that excerpt, I suggest you enroll in law school immediately. It will be a real barrel of monkeys.
If you had any of the aforementioned reactions to that paragraph, I suggest you stay far, far away from law school & keep thinking that the definition of tort is what is pictured above. Trust me, you’ll be happier in the long run.
Day to Day
| Law School, torts, USD
Sweet, sweet acceptance
By Kate, 30 January 2008
I have officially been accepted to one school, University of San Diego. One down, 14 to go!