Monday, February 11, 2008

Southern Karma

So I was in Virginia this weekend for a moot court competition, or, glorified debate tournament, in the world's fanciest law school facilities. We're talking multiple fancy courtrooms that I'd describe if I could possibly do them justice. A few brief highlights:

  • The evangelical school that hosted it had an enormous portrait of Pat Robertson....hanging between the Constitution and the Magna Carta.


  • Everyone was from the south and therefore sounded charming. One judge said, in a slow motion southern, Gone With the Wind, uber-jowly way that put me to sleep, "If yew thank yer goin' too slow, yer prolly just 'bout right."
  • We had the great privilege of eating at Shoneys and partaking of a buffet that included fried chicken, pineapple, french toast, chocolate pudding, and mac and cheese. If you're wondering if I ate all those things, the answer is yes.
  • Virginia Beach is (allegedly) the longest public beach in the country. Walking on the boardwalk in the 70 degree sunshine in February when it feels like you haven't seen the sun in years is THE WAY TO GO.
  • While educational and fun to argue, I'm fine with not talking about strict scrutiny, protective sweeps, whether the 2nd Amendment guarantees a collective or individual right, and/or the exclusionary rule EVER AGAIN. I got this relaxation CD from our "childbirth" class and printed on the front is the following: "This CD is protected by federal and Karmic law." Karmic law?? Why can't I take a class in THAT?

6 comments:

Supalinds said...

French toast and mac and cheese...that sounds like perfection.

I am totally jealous you got to hang out with the sun :)

Anonymous said...

cool. did the judges totally love you because you were pregnant? i thought i was going to get all of this extra sympathy last year for competing while pregnant, but i don't think anyone really noticed except this one woman judge. stupid podium. hope you had fun though.

also, moot court competitions are way better than debate tournaments. i think of the four days i was in nyc last year, i spent a total of like 2 1/2 hours actually at the competition. so it was great.

Anonymous said...

oh, not to mention no tubs to tape up at the airport.

zacharoo said...

Did you strip off your clothes and play on the beach in your underwear?

Ashley said...

Runnin' naked through the streets w/o your clothes on?

Fun Fantastic Family said...

those are the top three things that i draw inspiration from (constitution, magna carta, and pat robertson), so I can see why they would put them together. What is the name of this university? I forgot the name, but I know that a huge number of grads from that school work in the DOJ... scary.