Having now sat through a whole week of classes I now have a better idea of what to look forward to over the next few months. Summer break, you say? Well, that too, but here's the schedule and roster of characters in the meantime.
Mondays - Rollie days. This time it's Evidence and Civil Procedure with him (CivPro being a full-year course). He knows me pretty well by now, and in Evidence he had us fill in (another for me) a questionnaire asking our names, interest in the course, prior experience, and the like. I'd already filled one out for Evidence and CivPro for him, so I decided to have some fun with this one:
-Name: Cptn Jean-Luc Picard
-Former Occupation: Starship Captain, amateur vintner, living legend
-Previous Legal Experience: disciplinary proceedings, assisting and running courts-martial
-What you want to get out of this course: (crossed out "travel at warp 10"), replaced with "be able to use loopholes in a friend's trial, understand rules and procedures, finally put that whole Q thing to rest," etc
-Something interesting about yourself: "volunteered with the Halifax Public Prosecution Service last summer" (I decided to come clean and give him a hint, narrowing it down to 2 students)
There were some other entries but I don't remember them off-hand. He knew right away who he was dealing with (and probably grabbed for a stiffer drink) and reportedly smiled. Mission accomplished!
Tuesdays: Constitutional & Criminal Procedure. Thankfully Con only happens once a week this term (which is still sadly greater than zero) but the prof is nice at least. She tries, bless her heart, but it's nowhere near enough. The first class back she read us some constitutional poetry. I'd rather listen to Vogon poetry (google it, I'll wait). This is not a class for enjoying. It is ideally a class for laying down and avoiding. I'll split the difference and show up with an open, if not enthused, mind. The trick is to keep the thing from running away screaming!
Criminal Procedure looks good. Relevant subject matter aside, the prof keeps things interesting with a dry sense of humour, much self-deprecation, and helpful handouts. He's got a pleasant radio voice and started the first class with 2 readings, one from Kafka's The Trial, and the other from Monty Python (yay!). He also taught many of the prosecutors I volunteered with over the summer, so he knows his stuff. He doesn't quite have Rollie's energy but I think we'll get along just fine. Also, the readings are snappy and well-designed, the best so far.
Wednesdays: Evidence & Restorative Justice (RJ). Rollie in the morning, a 4 hour break, then my Con prof returns for a small group class discussing restorative justice and different concepts of justice. Scott and I (as usual) sit next to each other in this class (and most of others) - she knows both of us pretty well by now and threatened to split us up, saying she can't have two prosecutors on the same side of the room. If she does go through with it, I may complain about her taking me away from the one person in the room who makes me look good/smart. Scott and I may combine our efforts on this one a la Statler and Waldorf, with each of us complaining about losing a favourable comparator. The goal isn't to give her more grey hair necessarily, but to raise the energy level of the class. It's held in a dim room late in the afternoon. Energy levels last week were barely above "comatose" and while I'd hardly describe us as "class clowns" it's a shame to see good efforts to engage us go to waste. There's a ton of reading for RJ, but at least it's better than Con so far!
Thursdays: CrimPro. More dry wit, in the early afternoon. I'm not going to lie, my schedule this term is pretty sweet (much better than 6 hours straight on Mondays last term!) and conducive to getting reading done. Having Fridays off (for the 4th straight semester!) also helps...
...
...with the multitudinous readings, preparing for various job interviews, oral moot arguments, writing assignments and a major paper worth 70% of my grade. Plus preparing for exams worth at least 70%, each spaced only 2 days apart!! This is going to be a brutal semester in its own way, and I'm likely to end it with a bang, followed by a series of whimpers. Or whining, whichever takes the least effort at the time. All that to say that time not in class is hardly free time! In fact, class time may be more accurately seen as a break between readings!
At least there's a few weeks of intramural floor hockey to look forward to in the meantime! And reading break in February. But sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel isn't a train. Or New Jersey. This year it's going to be the brightly whirling blades of a exam schedule meat grinder, and I'm the rump roast moving steadily toward it. Oh, the humanity! Oh, the worse metaphors!
I'll stop now and get back to the readings. One of these days I may post a sample of what I have to endure just for you. Misery does after all love company.
Go Canucks!
Cheers,
A.
