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My finals begin a week from today, and that will unleash a crazy schedule that I feel the need to share. After my three back to back to back finals (Monday through Wednesday of next week), Hillary has a required choir performance Thursday night, after which she and I will fly all night to get to Mississippi in time to join Jody and Erica for Erica’s college graduation in Hattiesburg that Friday afternoon (December 11).
So here’s the travel plans:
* MISSISSIPPI: We’ll spend Friday night (December 11) in Hattiesburg since Hillary and I will be EXHAUSTED, and we’ll travel to Ocean Springs on Saturday. We will stay with our good friends, Todd & Robin Hayes, attend the Ocean Springs Church of Christ on Sunday morning and evening, and leave early Monday morning. Unfortunately, our limited time will preclude us from seeing everyone we want to see, so I want to encourage all our Mississippi friends that can to come to worship with us Sunday morning and then go out to eat afterward. We’d love to see as many folks as we can, but time is just limited. Plus, and more importantly, I haven’t seen my oldest daughter in a year, so I plan to be hugging on and talking to her as much as I can that weekend!!!!!!!!!!!
* ARKANSAS: We will drive to Arkansas on Monday, December 14. Again, time is our enemy. We will be staying with my mom in Paragould. We are planning to spend the evening with my family Monday night, go out to eat with Jody’s dad Tuesday night, go see Jody’s grandmother Wednesday morning, and go to 7th & Mueller Church of Christ Wednesday night before flying back to California that Thursday. Again, as our proposal to see a bunch of our folks, we’d invite everyone to come to 7th & Mueller that Wednesday night (December 16). There are so many folks we’d love to see in our short visit.
All this depends on the cooperation of flights & weather, of course, so we’ll be praying all goes smoothly.
And now, I must disappear into the inferno of a week of intensive studying. I look forward to the light at the end of the tunnel, which this time includes getting to see some of the people our family loves dearly.
Had this thought a couple of days ago: Jesus taught his followers to see people in one of two ways: (1) family (those that do God’s will), and (2) neighbors (everyone else). There is no third category, no matter how much one feels the need to create another.
It is unfortunate that this worldview is not associated with Christianity today.
I’m fairly sure everyone breathing in the Western Hemisphere has heard of Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers. Everyone with children under teenage years is probably likewise familiar with Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez.
Anyway, thought it was cool that these four Disney mega-stars have a music video together filmed completely at Pepperdine. The indoor portions were filmed at Smothers Theater, and the outdoor parts at Alumni Park (where my law school graduation is scheduled in a year-and-a-half!).
HERE IS A LINK to all one minute, thirty-one seconds of it. I especially like the closing shot – we have to look at such a view every single day. 
It is officially Thanksgiving Break at the Pepperdine School of Law, and although we are all very thankful just for that, it is a little bittersweet. Finals are breathing down our necks.
I have a brutal finals schedule, but I have no one to blame but me since I picked the classes. Two weeks from today I’ll be completely done – probably in more ways than one.
The good news is that out of six official classes I only have three finals. My “journal” is finished for the semester and is graded pass/fail, and I have two seminar classes we call “paper classes” (where the big grade is a research paper instead of a final) — and I’m done with both papers. But the three finals I have are scheduled back to back to back on the first three days of finals. Brutal, I tell you.
Evidence is scheduled for Monday (December 7), Criminal Procedure on Tuesday (the 8th), and Constitutional Law on Wednesday (the 9th). These three puppies will dominate things for me over the next two weeks.
The competitive nature of law school is so weird. Many of my classmates are headed home for Thanksgiving, and I confess my first thought is that this gives me an advantage. Sad, but this is what I think. However, many of the folks I’ve talked to who are going home for the holiday say that they just have to tell their families that a big chunk of their holiday visit must be devoted to studying. This is the nature of the beast.
My intention is to take off Thanksgiving afternoon (noon to five or six). Other than that, it is time to study. Which is why the break from classes is nice.
Well, it is 7:06am PST. Time to shower and then hit the books! Happy “break” to everyone!
This will mostly be interesting to my law friends, but since everyone is invited to read along I’ll do my best to explain on a general level. That a general level is where I’m most comfortable doesn’t hurt either.
So I’m reading the famed Daubert case for Evidence class (although Daubert is everywhere it seems, this is the first time I’ve actually read it). Everyone can grasp the gist of Daubert because it deals with what it takes to qualify as “expert testimony” in a trial, and all of us have seen a trial or two on television. The quick explanation is that after the Federal Rules of Evidence was published there was a question as to whether the standard should be relaxed as to what it takes to qualify as a scientific expert. In Daubert, the Supreme Court answered Yes.
Anyway, Justice Blackmun is working his magic in the majority opinion and I’m just along for the ride until I notice that he quotes my torts professor from last year! I mean, he not only drops a footnote citing Professor Green’s law review article, and not only actually QUOTES him right there in a parenthetical in the opinion, but he actually quotes him to develop the “Daubert test” that now controls who qualifies as an expert in court!!!
Okay, this was very cool to me, but it got even better the more I read. In Chief Justice Rehnquist’s dissent, Professor Green gets quoted again! In the majority opinion, Justice Blackmun concluded that trial judges could be sufficient gatekeepers in making these calls. In the Chief Justice’s dissent, he expressed his love and admiration for the intellectual abilities of trial judges but said that he wasn’t sure “he” (Rehnquist) could be trusted with the scientific knowledge necessary to make these decisions. He specifically added that he hadn’t a clue what the word “falsifiability” meant. “Falsifiability” was Professor Green’s word!!!
Okay, this may only be interesting in a law school geeky sort of way. But I found it pretty cool that I have someone as a reference AND a Facebook friend (one of his seven, thank you very much ) that is argued over in landmark Supreme Court decisions that affect the way trials are conducted all over the United States.
Who knew reading a case could be so much fun?
Let me say up front that I haven’t the time to read the 4,700 word document, nor much time to engage in a discussion of it either (which is why I need a little help here). But I’ve noticed in the news that 150 religious leaders have published “The Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience.” A quick skim of an article about it reveals that it urges Christians to engage in acts of civil disobedience in regard to issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage.
Alright, first of all, let me say that I’m a big fan of civil disobedience in general and that it’s not something Christians have been very proficient at over the years. In fact, the best civil disobedience stories out there are times when they were used against Christian opposition (think Gandhi, think King).
But someone will have to help me out here. What are these leaders urging Christians to do? I’m guessing that they already assume anyone that might listen to them would not run out and have an abortion or marry someone of like gender. So how are they urging their listeners to non-violently disobey abortion and same-sex marriage laws?
Again, don’t know that I’ll have much chance to respond. But any help in understanding this will give me one less thing to scratch my head about right now – and with finals approaching, I already have more than enough.
I started to title this note, “Smells Like I’m Getting Old,” but I couldn’t decide if that was funny or disgusting.
Anyway, church was cool this morning. The youth group led both services, and Hillary got to sing alto alongside her youth minister on the praise team. It was neat to see that she was a natural.
Preacher Ken was out of town, so it fell to Campus Minister Thomas to preach on Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” He did a really good job with it. Just think about it: about the only intelligible line of the song is “Here we are now / Entertain us.” In many ways, that sums up American Christianity. That’ll preach.
But here’s the deal.
Jody & I went to late service because we were asked to help serve communion. Late service is mainly the one the college students go to, so when Thomas asked how many people had never heard of “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” we expected the hands of the few older folks to go up. And they did. BUT… there was a significant number of college students who had never heard of it!!!!!
This is when it dawned on me that I am really getting old. Kurt Cobain’s big hit came out in 1992, just after the college freshmen were BORN!
Sheesh.
I successfully registered for classes next semester, and thankfully, was able to get in all the classes I wanted. I am registered for six classes totaling fifteen hours.
#1: My year as a staff member on the DISPUTE RESOLUTION LAW JOURNAL will continue next semester, giving me two credit hours. More blasted subchecking, plus I will get to complete my Comment (read: legal research paper).
#2: Another two credit hours will come from MEDIATION THEORY & PRACTICE, a required class on my way to obtaining a certificate in dispute resolution from the famed Straus Institute here at Pepperdine. I don’t know who will be my professor yet (listed as “Staff” right now), but here is the course description:
“This course explores the various theories underlying and practices basic to mediation. The mediation process is organized into a series of stages, and basic mediation skills and techniques appropriate to each stage are identified and cultivated. Simulations and experiential exercises provide students with an opportunity to develop proficiency as mediators and to rigorously analyze appropriate roles and behavior as mediators and advocates taking into account the legal, ethical and public policy issues surrounding the practice of mediation.”
#3: WILLS & TRUSTS is a required upper division course at Pepperdine, and I will be in Professor Wendel’s class (four credit hours). Below is both a picture of Professor Wendel (to readers on Facebook, go to my blog HERE where the pictures actually come through) and a course description:
“An examination of the family wealth transmission process including intestate succession; creation, execution, alteration, and revocation of wills and trusts; rules relating to interpretation and construction; examination of uses and functions of charitable, resulting, and constructive trusts, and the Rule Against Perpetuities.”
#4: Pepperdine has an upper division ethics requirement, and my enrollment in ETHICAL LAWYERING (two credit hours) will fulfill that requirement. Professor Childress and the course description is below:
“A survey course exploring the lawyer’s ethical responsibilities and the general principles of law governing the legal profession. Focuses on the ABA Model Rule of Professional Conduct, including the lawyer’s duties as an officer of the court, the lawyer’s duties to the client, and the lawyer’s duties to third parties. Includes discussions of the interplay of law, ethics, and morality, and the concept of law as a profession.”
#5: Three credit hours will come from TRIAL PRACTICE with Professor Adamson:
“A study of the methods and procedures of counsel in various aspects of trial. Students will actively participate in direct- and cross-examination of witnesses, making objections, methods of impeachment, use of depositions, introduction of exhibits, the importance of ethics, decorum, and personal mannerisms in the courtroom. Participation in complete practice trials; learning through actual experience.”
#6: Finally, I have chosen as an elective ADVANCED TORTS SEMINAR (two credit hours) with Professor Linden:
“This course will cover the moral and ethical foundation of tort law and its proper role in America today. The course will explore some current tort issues such as wrongful life, wrongful birth, duties to the unborn, duty to rescue, tort liability for sexual misconduct, child abuse and harassment, professional liability, police torts, government liability, privacy protection, and automobile accident compensation.”
Looks like an interesting semester ahead, and if I’m not smart enough to learn anything, at least the course topics sound extremely intelligent.
