The venerable Professor Viet Dinh is the brilliant, alarming, always entertaining ConLaw instructor to whom I keep teasingly referring. I really have learned a fantastic number of things from this man in the four class sessions I have sat under him. The Constitution comes alive...I'm thinking of producing a "Constitution on Ice," with dancing articles and clauses, with the Framers weaving their deft way through the past and future. There will, of course, be a black-robed King of England with a deep, sinuous voice and a supporting Articles of Confederation character (Constitution's wimpy kid brother) who whines often, and gets beaten down often-er. Jump on this bandwagon, guys, I'm telling you.
Wow. Do I ever digress. All of that tomfoolery aside, I really have learned so much already. He deals more in the abstract than Abernathy's insistent Civil Procedure, so it's quite a different experience to follow him and respond to his teaching questions. And...I know I have mentioned words like "alarming," and "crazy," and "abrupt" in connection with his persona. How shall I describe this to you? Perhaps it would be best to give you a few verbatim snapshots from today's class.
Dinh's brand of mercy is a strange one to behold. Often, he loves to give people time to answer the questions he has asked them by madly rabbit-trailing with little to no warning. Example:
Dinh: "What is Ms. Kelly's injury in this case?"
Kid who doesn't know the answer: "Uhm, well...uhm, do you want it...from...the...text...?"
Dinh, hopping up onto his desk with his legs swinging: "I LOOOVVVVE CROCODILES! What's the difference between an alligator and a crocodile? WHAT IS IT???"
Later on:
Dinh: "Does she have standing, as an environmentalist?"
Kid: "Yes?"
Dinh: "NO!"
Kid: "Well...I-"
Dinh: "Does Al Gore have standing?"
Kid: "Uh-"
Dinh: "SOMEONE gave me the BEST BUMPER STICKER RECENTLY!! I have a huge car, with a huge engine, and the bumper sticker says, 'Al Gore hates me.' AND HE DOES!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!"
Know what the common factor is here? I was laughing. The whole time.
As a relatively unrelated side note, I know I'm amongst some substantial vocabularies when I'm taking notes on what's being said and Word does not recognize a significant percentage of what I'm typing.
Right now I am sitting in the (pretty fairly decked out) Gewirz dorm-apartment of my new friend, Cindy ("I do not qualify as a new friend anymore, Kayla. Sorry."). She is making me a grilled peanut butter and honey sandwich ("It's good! I promise!") and giving me milk and a napkin as I write this, but she's been a delight for so, so many more reasons. She's an international human rights kindred spirit ("That's what brought us together!") and a lover of Jesus and people ("Uh...redundant."). A NorCal girl, she studied Political Science in undergrad, is fluent in Spanish, danced competitive ballroom in college, isn't bad on the Latin dance floor either, has warm eyes, a quick laugh, excellent massage hands, a lovely soprano voice, and beautiful caramel skin from her half-Guatemalan ethnicity, and enjoys kittens, sunsets, and long walks on the beach (really, probably).
Strange picture of Cindy, proving a point over a falafel sandwich.
Well? Sold? What better way to end a strangely-progressing post than some other random thing: a song I've been loving, thanks to the one and only Libby Conine:
Go check out "Audience" by Cold War Kids. Do it.
Picture! From an evening stroll on the Mall.
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