This was a long week, as classes are now in high gear.  It’s hard to believe that the semester is a third over.  We’re starting to talk about midterms already.  It seems like orientation just ended.

Next week we’re doing oral arguments in Constitutional Law about the Second Amendment.  For those who aren’t familiar, it’s the controversial amendment that prevents the government from infringing on the “right to keep and bear arms.”  However, there’s also a preamble which seems to indicate that the right is only granted for use in organized militia.  Anyway, we’ll be presenting arguments in class so I need to meet with a group at the school on Sunday.  I’m also starting to create case outlines to help understand how the cases we read relate to each other, so the weekend doesn’t even feel like a break.  The weather has been great, though, so I took time out from work to go for a walk and play some wiffle ball.

The carpool has swelled to five members, which is great because we can each drive once a week.  Although it’s a little crowded some days, it’s worth it for the gas we’re saving.  It also gives me a great chance to bounce ideas off of my classmates, and get opinions from someone in a different section and a professor who has been carpooling with us.

One bad thing about commuting is that it’s harder to go to after-class events on campus.  For instance, they screened a global warming documentary called “The Planet” last Wednesday, but it wasn’t until 7pm.  Since I get done with class at 2, I could have stayed an extra five hours on campus or driven back to campus just for the 82-minute film, but I decided to simply not go.  Apparently, it was very well received.  Oh well, it was the first of a series of global warming documentaries screened on campus.  Maybe I’ll catch the next one. 

There are so many things going on around campus that some days I’ll just have to stay later.  On Friday, there was a presentation on moving towards energy sustainability and justice with a panel of two VLS professors, as well as a Canadian and an European expert.  It was interesting, if a slightly alarming.  There are some disturbing possibilities for the future, but there are a lot of people at VLS prevent those possibilities.