the little things

Life as a law student sorta sucks. How could anyone dislike the warm and friendly atmosphere, light workload, sunny Chicago days, and brilliant, yet modest classmates (and not to mention the great price)? I don't know. Let's just say that I do. Sure, the mimosas-for-memos program helps, but cheap alcohol and free coffee just isn't it cutting it anymore. After 6 months of being in a constant cycle of caffeinated alertness and intoxicated semi-consciousness, patience has begun to dissipate. It takes a lot to get this disgruntled 23-year-old with mild carpal tunnel to smile these days.

So when I grinned widely and even gave a gentle applause in my morning criminal law class, I knew it was going to be a good day. It might have been because, for the first time in a long time, I got more than 3 hours of sleep. Indeed, it was probably that. But another reason had to do with the law school musical and a couple of awesome professors.

Every year, the law students put on a musical. I was not in it for obvious reasons, but my friend, B, was and gave me the inside scoop on the goings-on behind the curtain. Apparently, it's written each year by 2Ls and 3Ls, but anyone can be in it and I think many of the major parts went to 1Ls. The script is very clever and involved law-related spoofs of Bad Romance by Lady Gaga (Bad Students), Bohemian Rhapsody, and other songs. The bulk of the play went toward making fun of professors and deans. Two of the professors at our school, McAdams, my criminal law professor, and Ginsburg, an international law professor, are perhaps the only two professors who are difficult to make fun of. Unlike most of the faculty, they have no visible neuroses, they seem perfectly comfortable standing in front of large classes, and I've heard that they even have law experience (imagine that!) The musical decided to poke fun at their lack of defining characteristics by pointing out that they looked similar and were just normal guys. In the musical, they switched classes and their students didn't notice. (Ginsburg has a goatee which he 'took off' and handed to McAdams.)

It was a mildly funny joke, but sort of forgettable compared to the rest of the musical, so when my classmates and I were sitting in criminal law awaiting Professor McAdams, none of us had any idea what we were in store for. Over the weekend, Professor Ginsburg shaved his goatee and when he stepped in to teach the class, it took everyone a few minutes to realize he wasn't our professor. He even called on a student, acting as if everything were normal. After the student struggled to answer the question over justifiable puzzlement, Ginsburg said, "And how does that relate to international law?" It was pretty good and McAdams arrived a few minutes later.

 All right, back to work.