My favorite season is autumn but it is also the shortest. It is passed peak season now in the northeast kingdom where I hail from and at peak in the rest of the state but in the next week or so this will dissipate and winter (dare I even say it) will be upon us. In fact when you walk around especially when it is windy, the leaves “rain” down on your head. It’s a little late now, but for next year, you can log onto to the Vermont foliage forecaster at http://www.1-800-vermont.com/seasons/forecaster.asp. This site shows you when and where the leaves change using an animation program. Also there are great scenic drives listed, but enough of me playing Vermont tour guide. During the break, which we had here at VLS this past weekend through Tuesday, I made sure to get outside and motorcycle leaf peep, the weather was perfect for it!

Need to take this opportunity to explain a “Vermontism” (or perhaps this is also custom in other rural areas), what I am referring to is the wave and the nod. When driving on a country road, preferably dirt and you pass another driver or pedestrian (most likely a farmer) you need to wave and nod. Not a Miss America high in the air contrived wave, but a barely take your hand off the steering wheel bend at the elbow kind of wave as you nod in mutual acknowledgment of the other person’s presence. It is a slow move held for about 3 seconds (I counted today to make sure). You can always tell native Vermonters since they don’t smile as they perform the wave and nod (I try very hard to not smile) and for a millisecond only they make eye contact with you and for the rest of the time their eyes are looking slightly downward and away. If you do it wrong many times they will not wave and nod back at you. You can try to master the wave and the nod, but it takes years and even then the natives will ask to see your birth certificate to verify your native status especially if you smiled while performing said wave and nod. I need to qualify this by saying that you are not a native if you are a first generation Vermonter like myself. I once asked a multigenerational Vermonter just how many generations you have to have before you are considered a native and I was told, if you have to ask then you aren’t one.

Switching gears…..So far as a 1L, I have learned that balance is very important. I had great intentions of writing my blog more often, but suffice to say my last entry was prior to the official start of school. Since that time, much learning has occurred. Here is the reader’s digest version: Civ Pro – Pennoyer was blanked over by a lawyer and then it became bad law; Contracts: call the seed company (sometimes the best solution is just communication among the parties when there is breach and not suing one another if they can work it out. wow this from a future lawyer); Torts ah torts I believe I will be posting a no swimming sign &/or no trespassing sign around the pond this year so as to avoid getting sued for negligence in case some moron wants to try to snowshoe across it this winter without permission and falls in and finally Con Law: this is the most variable area of study. I think I can spell justiciability and counter-majoritarian difficulty (Bickel) now without pausing as I type. (Did you ever notice they both come up as misspelled anyway?)

There are many a night and day that I have wondered if this decision to come to law school was a good one. Good is defined as “beneficial” in Webster’s new pocket dictionary, 2000. (Ah yes, they are also teaching us the importance of citation – seems like pretty much anything you say is not owned by you so you have to cite, it can get awfully crazy; mind you the previous citation is not in the correct format).

So in closing, break out the sweaters, turtlenecks, coats, hats and mittens, in the next several weeks you’ll need ‘em. Now wave and nod.