Picking Classes

I believe I have settled on a winter class schedule:

Constitutional Law II (Freedom of Speech): T,Th 9:45-10:50, W 8:30-9:35
Sexual Orientation and the Law: T,W,Th 11-12:05
Marriage: W 1:30-3:50, Th 1:30-2:35
Law and Politics Workshop: T 4-5:15

That gives me 11 credits, so I only need to take 9 next quarter to graduate with the 105 required. I don't have class on Mondays or Fridays which means I can use those days to catch-up and get ahead as needed, as well as write those two pesky papers hanging over my head from previous quarters (and run errands, research the Austin housing market, and maybe go to the gym. Maybe). I didn't have to spend a penny on books, so I'm forcing myself to pay back the loan refund check I was issued this quarter. I always take out the full amount for tuition (nearly $40,000) and then some extra for books and other expenses. Just thinking about all my loans is depressing, so we'll save that topic for another day. Moving on!

Con Law II is interesting, taught by a great prof (who co-wrote our massive casebook), and is one of those topics I feel like I should know more about before leaving law school. Two things holding me back from taking the class were the ridiculously expensive casebook and the dread of the final, but a friend loaned me her book from last year and I suppose one final won't kill me.

Sexual Orientation and the Law (I need a shorter name for this class... Gay Law?) is fantastic. It's a topic I'm really interested and I love that it's such a current, evolving area of the law. The professor is the perfect mix of a practical and entertaining practictioner (he's at attorney at Lambda) and ridiculously smart theorist. He's also hilarious- as are some of the state statutes against gay sex and marriage. For example, a Washington sodomy statute explicitly bans carnal knowledge of a bird. Yes, a bird, because such behavior undercuts the moral foundation of our society. Or whatever the justification for those laws is... Other pluses: the reading assignments are really short and we can write a paper in lieu of the final.

Marriage: I haven't attended this class yet, but I read past course reviews and they were all very positive (and just as important, rated the difficulty of the class as a 2). It's taught by a pretty famous feminist and I may very well be the only woman in attendance who is married, changed her name, and has a baby, but it should be interesting and fun. There's no final and the grade is based on participation and short reaction papers.

Law and Politics Workshop: I discovered this little gem yesterday. It meets every other Tuesday from 4-5:15 (our seminars normally run from 4-6 and I have to get Landon by 5:30, so I haven't been able to take any this year) and involves a professor from some other law school presenting a paper on a topic related to the intersection of law and politics. We have to write a 3-page paper about a weak or interesting point in the paper and prepare two questions to ask at the workshop (though we don't actually have to ask them). It continues through the Spring quarter and gives me just the right number of credits.

So I think that's it. I've finished the bar application (at least the parts under my control- still waiting on the certified copy of my birth certificate, copy of my law school application, and kindergarten report card). I have not started my substantial paper on criminal justice and cyber law (or picked a topic) and I have not started my research paper for my helpful professor friend from last quarter. I'm in a constant state of almost being behind, but so far, I feel like I'm staying ahead of the curve. Of course, we're only 4 days into the quarter...