the facts say she's my cousin. the truth says she's my sister. about a month ago, clara was hit by a frontrunner train. the details of this accident are not important or the focus of this post. clara is.
she's been in the hospital since she was in the accident. she moved out of the ICU on wednesday meaning that i got to go and visit her for the first time tonight. she wasn't fully awake, but she was there.
clara is my childhood hero. we shared a room at jacob lake for the summers during my formative years. she's six years older than me and i thought (and think) that she was the coolest person to ever walk the earth. if she cut her hair, i cut mine. if she grew it out, so did i. she had brown eyes, so i hated my blue. she was 6 feet tall, that was my goal. she had elastics for her braces, i strung them through my teeth. she taught me about the finer things in life:
she also taught me the importance of being kind and generous, of making people feel included and important. she taught me the power and strength of being sweet and gracious. she showed me how to fight and how to strive for those things that are good and worthy. she is funny, happy, and pure. she brings light along wherever she goes. she's not afraid to get in and work and she won't stop until the job's finished. she gives warmth to everyone she meets and is somehow unaware of the effect she always has. she provided the best example i could have ever asked for. she is the older sister i didn't have, but didn't need because she is there.
clara has not changed a bit. she is still strong, fighting, and beautiful. she is still the woman that i want to be when i grow up, moreso now than ever. with the Lord, our prayers, and her will, this will be overcome and added to her benefit. and she continues to add to our benefit, just as she always has.
i'm currently sitting in a civil procedure review. civil procedure is my favorite class. it is also the most boring and the most difficult. but it is my favorite nonetheless because of my professor, Lincoln Davies. as its title states, civil procedure is a procedural class. i had no idea that there was legal procedure before i set foot in davie's class. but of course it makes sense. justice couldn't proceed willy nilly and actually be served. and so our lovely court system has created one billion rules that lawyers must follow at every conceivable point of a lawsuit in order to get said suit into and out of a trial. and let me tell you, these rules are detailed. and poorly written. confusing, boring, and obscure. you never see sam waterston or matlock whip out their book of federal rules of civil procedure (or, in their case, criminal procedure, but potato potato) and win a case based on some lame provision in some lame rule because everyone's eyes would glaze over and the tv show would bomb. but, let me assure you, this does happen in real life.
anyway, what i'm trying to say is that civil procedure is not the most scintillating of all topics. but it is my favorite because i had a really exceptional teacher. he is someone who puts his whole heart and soul into teaching, teaching well, and teaching memorably. having just been a teacher myself, that was the first thing i noticed about lincoln. and he has never, ever dropped that ball. he's stayed interesting and interested the semester through making the subject favorable because of himself and nothing else.
which leads to a greater truth: good people make life (the good or the bad) good. people are the best (and possibly the worst, but that is not what we are focusing on) things in the world. they are daily what i am most grateful for, the things that i simply could not live with out and hurt the most when they are lost. they are what make life special and memorable, by in large. and that is why i came to law school. because, through the law, i can work with people.
i met with a councilor yesterday so that she could check out my legal resume and a legal cover letter that i wrote and make sure they are up to snuff. one of the suggestions she had on my resume is that i really should include those things that i am most interested in because, along with everything else impressive and important that i am supposed to have done, they set me apart. they make me into a person to the person who will be interviewing me. and for some reason, that brought me such hope and comfort. i can bring those things that have claim on my heart to help me find work in a similar situation.
that relates back to the whole "i love people" rant that i went on earlier in this post because i am interested in every one of my interests (basically) because of the people that they are connected to. law school has been the most difficult for me not because of the subjects or time that it requires or the new ways that it makes me think, but because i feel like i have lost my people due to a change in location, situation, and a lack of time. and then yesterday, talking about writing a resume, i finally saw the light at the end of the law school: it actually can bring me closer to the things that i love and the people that have made them lovable. there are so many things that i want in this life. and law school really can help me get there.
here are a few more things that i love:
1) horse camp!!
2) this. movie. looks. awesome.
a) partially due to this girl's style. i seriously want ALL of this.
3) please listen to the translation so that you know exactly how hilarious this song is. but know the dance is not for the faint of heart.
4) davies rapping about jml/rmjml (judgment as a matter of law/renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law)
it's backwards because bert made a t-shirt out of it and wore it on the last day of class.
i grew up loving this flawless specimen of maledom, watched him grow from a dashing young scamp into a heart-melting, tear-jerking, quintessential man. let's walk through his perfection, shall we?
1) he's tall, dark, and handsome.
2) he's foreign.
3) he's got an accent.
4) he's really good at apologizing.
5) he's devoted.
6) he's smart.
7) he's ambitious, i.e., he knows what he wants (you/anne) and he is going to do whatever it takes to get it (you/anne), even if that means waiting for like 10 years.
8) he's a doctor.
9) his last name means happy/cheerful.
10) he's got great fashion sense.
11) moments 8:07-10:39 of this clip.
and really, what more do you need? now, don't get me wrong. i love mr. darcy (the REAL mr. darcy), dimitri, and jim halpert as much as the next girl, but there is something about gil and his undying love for a melodramatic diva with red hair. because as you watch him love annoying anne for 6 hours, you just know that if there was some way to bridge the barrier between you and avonlea, you would blow his mind.
i guess what i'm trying to say here is, gilbert, i would give you diamond sunbursts and marble halls because the only one for me is you.
i was going to post some footage of real's awesome playoff winning goals, but then they lost against l.a. schmalaxy and i am too sad to put up something peppy like the season highlights. it's not the same. not the same at all.
but i do have a new goal.
by the end of law school, i want to know the supreme justices so well that i will have favorites and disfavorites, allies and arch-nemeses. i want to be able to say such sentences as, "oh, justice scalia, i love and/or hate him because in what's-his-face v. blahdeeblah he..." or, "justice samuel anthony alito, jr. is such an angel/devil. his ruling/dissent in..."
so, here is 2011's starting line up of supreme court justices:
John G. Roberts, Jr.- THE chief justice of the united states
Antonin Scalia
Anthony M. Kennedy
Clarence Thomas
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Steven G. Breyer
Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr.
Sonia Sotomayor
Elana Kagan
and there you have them. the batmen and catwomen of justice in our nation. so far, based on the research i have done (looking at their pictures) my hopes for favorite and disfavorite are:
favorite- clarence thomas. of course. he seems like the allstate guy of the supreme court.
disfavorite- ruth bader ginsberg. no one is fooled by that fancy collar thing.
who ever knew i would want to intimately know the 9 supreme court justices. not i. i can tell you that. perhaps it is because the nba seems so likely to leave me in the lurch this winter, trying to battle the grey months of january-march without the shining beacon that it and its players are. so, i have to look else where. and these justices judge on. no matter the cost.
i think that there is something singular and exceptional about women who have lived long, rich lives. they have that singular and exceptional something in their hands. and they can give it to you, that wisdom, strength, and love, when the touch you, literally and figuratively. i love grandmothers, those that are mine and those that aren't. and last week my life was especially graced by them.
unlike BYU, the U gives its students breaks, fall breaks even. for my fall break i got to go to hawaii because of my auntie. but we will talk about her later. on the flight from LA to Honolulu, i sat by these two mexican abuelitas, sisters going to hawaii. man, oh man i wished i spoke spanish. it took a few hours, but by the end of the journey they were calling me meja and sharing their flamin' hot cheetos with me. they told me how they met their husbands and how hard it was now that their husbands have passed. they showed me pictures of their children and grandchildren and talked about going home to mexico. mostly we spoke in english, but sometimes they spoke in spanish and i strained their ears to limits using every bit of romance language i have to piece together what they were saying. they held my hands when they were talking and looked me straight in the eye. and before i left, they got my address and gave me theirs so that we could stay in touch and told me how glad they were to meet me. and i couldn't help but believe them. it was the best flight i have ever had due to the unexpected latina matriarchs who took me under their wings.
when i got to hawaii, i spent my a the week with two of my aunties: auntie sharon and auntie jadean. they aren't my real aunts, just two phenomenal women i'm so lucky to have. auntie sharron is from idaho. but she met this hawaiian surfer stud studying at ricks, fell in love, and the rest his history. a woman after my own heart. she and her husband traveled and lived all over the world. they went from idaho to canada to hawaii to seattle to provo to hawaii again. she told me stories from visiting jordan, israel, turkey, china, all over europe. she and her husband served a temple mission in new york and were mission presidents in the philippines. i especially loved her stories from the philippines. she would have been such a wonderful mission presidentina. she said when she got to the philippines, based on what she saw on the drive from the airport to the mission home, she would have flown back to the US immediately if there was a classy way to do so. the poverty was unlike anything she'd ever been exposed to and she truly did not think she could handle it. but then she knew that she was there to serve her missionaries, and that's what she did. she loved the people, but she loved her missionaries more.
the thing that i love about my auntie sharron isn't that she has been to so many places or how much she has changed about or added to herself, though those things are wonderful. it's what she has retained. how she has stayed the same. because i can see her serving various missions, moving to various places, visiting various countries and doing it all in her down-to-earth, idaho girl, warm, friendly, and inclusive way. she took what there was to take and gave more back in return. she knows how to make you feel welcome and comfortable. i think that is one of the greatest gifts.
my auntie jadean is simply one of my favorite people in this whole wide world. she and her husband met my parents in law school when the were there lo those many years ago. after law school, my parents moved back to utah and my auntie and uncle moved back to hawaii. but, as has been highly beneficial to me, they stayed in contact. when i was 15, we took our first trip to the hawaiian isles. i've been back 5 times since then. due to my auntie and her generosity, hawaii is one of the cheapest vacations i can take. not bad. this last trip is the only one i've taken on my own. it was me and auntie for a whole week. hawaii has come to feel like home, and i know that to be the work of my auntie. she just grabs you and pulls you into her life and her heart.
auntie is from kansas and she is fiercely loyal to and proud of it. she can't tolerate people who say it's a waste-of-space state because the prairies there are beautiful, you just have to open your eyes to it. what a stark contrast to the obvious beauty of hawaii. i think that those rolling prairies and endless skies profoundly shaped my auntie because that is how she feels: open and easy, wise and timeless, a little wild and unconquerable. she and my uncle aren't members. but if they were, she would be the dream relief society president. she'd be devoted, creative, and tireless. she also doesn't have any children, which is one of the greatest sadnesses that i know of. everyone would benefit from having a mom like my auntie. people are her specialty. reading you and knowing how to tell you those hard truths while simultaneously bolstering you up is what she does best. i got a healthy does of that last week. and that's exactly what i needed.
being back in law school, what i'm thinking is that i want to bring those characteristics embodied in the women that brightened my week last week to everything that i do in my own life.
just like any good law student should, i have become a part of a study group. ok, this isn't a big feat or accomplishment because my study group was practically handed to me by the university, but oh well. we don't need to focus on that. i really like my study group. it consists of my good friend bekah, two mormon dudes, and another girl. as part of our study sessions, we have decided to write out hypothetical situations and apply the different law concepts we're learning in our classes. so, ideally, in each study session we have a hypothetical for:
1) torts
2) civil procedure
3) contracts
someone is assigned to write a hypo for one specific class that has to do with the principles we have been learning and then we reason through the problem together.
i was assigned contracts last week and this is what i came up with:
Eleanor and Carl have known each other for a few months.There has always been romantic tension, but what that tension really means has never been resolved.Eleanor likes Carl, could see them together and successful, thinks that he could be thinking the same thing, but gets the distinct feeling that Carl is a player not quite ready to quit his playing ways.
Carl is a recovering womanizer.When he met Eleanor he thought he might have met his match: the woman who could settle him down.But he knew things would be serious with her and was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to man up to all of that.
As they spent more time together, the chemistry between the two became undeniable.Eleanor did her best to maintain boundaries until some sort of commitment was made, but Carl was persistent.
One stormy evening on a cozy couch, Carl and Eleanor were sharing a blanket watching a movie.However, Carl had something very different in mind and tried time and again to kiss Eleanor.But Eleanor’s kiss-dodging skills were sharp.Finally, as Carl made one last move, Eleanor turned to him and said, “I am not a game and I will not let you play me.You can not kiss me if it is only going to be a game.”Carl looked her straight in the face, nodded, and kissed her.
The very next day, Carl disappeared completely from Eleanor’s life.Eleanor is now suing Carl for breach of contract.
Was Carl’s kiss a contract?
what do you think? contract?
the answer to this question is: yes. by kissing eleanor, carl contracted not to play her.
let me tell you why.
in order to have a contract you need either mutual assent or consideration. so, let's see if there is mutual assent, shall we?
mutual assent needs two things:
1) an offer
2) acceptance of that offer
so, is there an offer an offer in this situation?
yes. the offer of a kiss from carl to eleanor.
is that offer accepted?
no. eleanor rejects the original kiss offer and supplies a counteroffer: "you can not kiss me if it is only going to be a game."
is that offer accepted?
yes. "carl looked her straight in the face, nodded, and kissed her."
and there you have it. mutual assent. contract.
we have already proved that, since there is mutual assent (both parties agreeing on the terms of the kissing), there is a contract. but we are in law school now, and so we have an unconquerable urge to be thorough so we don't get sued for malpractice. so, just to be safe, let's see if we can find consideration.
*note- i don't like consideration as much as i like mutual assent because it is a lot harder and because i don't fully understand it. but that's no excuse not to make me delve right into it in front of the whole class. just ask my professors. so, let's soldier on by attempting to define consideration.
consideration is an inducement (encouragement, attraction, enticement) to enter into a contract and can be in the way of a benefit to the person who makes the promise (promisor) or a detriment to the person accepting the promise (promisee). in other words, in order to have consideration in a promise the promisor has to be benefitted or the person who is accepting the promise has to be, in some way, detrimented.
promisor benefit: kissing eleanor
promisee detriment: kissing carl
there seems to be consideration here, but let's try one more test just for fun.
another way to test consideration is to see if the promise leads to the detriment. in this case, the promise does lead to the detriment which leads to the promise which leads to the detriment in one continuous and eternal round. look:
promise:detriment:
to kiss -----------------------------------> to be kissed
to kiss <----------------------------------- to be kissed
a perfect case for consideration.
in conclusion, on both counts and for both conditions, yes. this kiss is a contract. i'm sorry, brett and gemaine, but the truth is that sometimes, a kiss is a contract. at least, that's what i learned in law school.
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