Law-y stuff!

Really meant to post here earlier this week but I've been a bit of a lazy spell. I'm trying to adjust to a very front-heavy week, with school 11:10-6:50 on Tuesday and Legal Aid 9:00-5:00 Monday and Wednesday. Some part of my brain keeps telling me that I can really put off work till the weekend, so I ended up reading 236 pages in 2 days for my Beckett class, and not paying enough attention to things like Mock Trial, then had to cram in work for that right before it was due, etc etc etc.

Had more fun at Legal Aid yesterday, another relatively short day shadowing a staff investigator. Again, the details are all privileged and whatnot, but I can say that I got to go to One Police Plaza, where we were serving a subpoena for records and documents. It's actually a pretty nice building, incredibly high-security, of course, a very interesting mural in the lobby made out of different kinds of bricks.

My Law and Literature class is now reading Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice (or, as some people call it, Rapesheake's The Chamrent of Venice). The focus is entirely on legal stuff, so we're not dwelling too much on the usual "ohmygodIknewitwasantisemiticbutwhatdidtheyjustsay?" aspect. From a legal perspective, it's all about contracts--Lockean stuff, private contracts, marriage, informal promises, friendship, etc. It also has, really, a total idiot plot. Antonio is an idiot for borrowing money from Shylock on the whole pound-of-flesh deal--surely there are other loan sharks in Venice, yes? Shylock is an idiot for not realizing that attempted murder trumps a business contract. Actually, everybody's an idiot on that count--I mean, um, duh? And then there's Portia's suitors, who fall for the most obvious riddle ever. The only people who come out looking decently intelligent at Portia and Nerissa (and, I suppose, Doctor Bellario, whom they consult, but who isn't an actual character).

In other news, I discovered that The Addams Family is now available on Hulu. Is amusing. Aside from that irritating laugh track. I prefer my sitcoms without the audio track telling me what I'm supposed to find funny, thank you very much.