Real Momma Doan

My mom is here for the weekend, and thanks to our chaffeur Alex, we were able to make it around the District and Virginia for a lot of fun.

For dinner, my mom wanted something fun and different, so I could not think of anything better than eating Ethiopian food with our hands. We went to U street (little Ethiopia) and ate at Dukem, which Alex's Ethiopian's staffer recommended. So good. And no, my mom and I did not mean to match.

The next day we headed over to Virginia to visit Mount Vernon, George Washington's estate. The property is absolutely gorgeous and the new museum is a lot of fun. If anyone wants to go, my mom bought Alex and I season passes there.

After a quick stop at Costco, the best place on earth to go with your mom, we headed over to the Eden Center (little little Saigon) to eat "authentic" Vietnamese food. My mom loves showing Alex new Vietnamese dishes, so it was funny watching her stuff more plates of food in front of him until he was ready to explode. She also bought a lot of exotic fruits and Vietnamese desserts to take home. If I did not stop her, I thought she would have bought Vietnamese sandwiches (ban mi) to stockpile in my refrigerator. You have to love Asian-mothers.

Even though I am sad that she has to leave so soon, I think I have enough costco and leftover food to last me until I see her next, Thanksgiving!

Why They Strike

Despite being called anti-labor by my opponent for student government vp at UCLA, I do think there are appropriate times to unionize and strike. From what I have read, I support the Writer's Guild's cause- even if it does mean reruns of the Office.

I think there is this misconception that all Hollywood writer's make a lot of money when that is not true. Like so many businesses, the money is distributed unnecessarily unevenly. I understand that executives should be paid more, but after soliciting political contributions from and holding fundraisers at the homes of studio execs, I know that they make obscene amounts of money.

One thing that has made me smile about this whole situation is watching the actors join in solidarity with the writers. I was never a huge Jay Leno fan, but I found a new appreciation for the man after I saw him bring donuts for the strikers and saying that he is on the writer's side because he would not be funny without them. I was happy to see so many actors out there or not crossing the picket line because they know that they are nothing without the writers. Steve Carell, John Stamos, America Ferrera, Julianne Moore, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, the ER/Grey's/Scrubs casts (must be a doctor thing), and more. They have all earned points in my book.

Finally, I was actually surprised about how many people did not know that the strike was going on. I guess being from California and reading the Los Angeles Times daily makes me more attune to these issues. Here is a good summary video of what the Writer's Guild wants (thanks for the link Aaron).

It's A Small World

Today at a diversity reception, my friend and I met Commissioner Ishimaru of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. As my friend was talking about how he was interning for a judge this semester, Commissioner Ishimaru exclaimed, "Of course I know him, our families are going skiing together during the break!" It's a small world.

As we talked about law school, Commissioner Ishimaru told us about how tight-knit the law community is and how you will later meet people that you had classes with. Although we are taught when we are growing up to not care about what other people think about us, the Commissioner's remarks reminded me why it is important to be cognizant of the reputations we are forming.

One major observation that I noticed going to law school is that word spreads quickly. Even being one the largest law schools in the nation, everyone knows about everyone else. I think the legal profession attracts people who are talkers and who like knowing what is going on. Moreover, grouping students in sections and confining these students to one building for many hours contributes to the quick flow of information.

If something happened at bar review, in class, or at a section party last week, people in the cafeteria will be talking about it. Just yesterday, I was sitting in the cafeteria and heard a 3L confront another 3L about spreading an incident that occurred two years ago a section party.

Not knowing who I might have to work against or with in the future, I try to be generally nice to people (or at the very least- avoid people I dislike).

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Speaking of It's a Small World- Disneyland is remodeling the ride in January by deepening the waterway and making the boats more buyout.

Why? "Heavier-than-anticipated loads have been causing the boats to come to a standstill in two different spots, allowing for an extra-long gander at the Canadian Mounties and the Scandinavian geese." Translate: People are getting heavier. Of course Disneyland will not say that because they are Disneyland, but everyone knows. Maybe it is Not Such a Small World.

J'aime Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain: Best-selling author, Executive chef at Les Halles, TV host of No Reservations, Top Chef guest judge. When I heard that he was speaking at GW, I begged Alex to go. Lucky for me, Alex got us half-off tickets to this sold out talk.

Bourdain is just as hilarious, quick-witted, crude, and passionate about food in person as he is on television and through his writing. There were so many great moments, but I'll share some of my favorites:

• Responding to which country he loves the most after traveling around the globe, Bourdain declared that it was Vietnam.
  
• Urging people to travel and be open to trying foods that people prepare for them (something I need to take to heart)
• Deriding vegetarians and glorifying bacon
• Describing how he would prevent his newborn daughter from ever eating McDonalds
  
• Admitting that Russian grandmothers could drink him under the table and carry him home; and giving cures to hangovers
• Giving people tips on how to find the best local food-- make a unsubstantiated claim that some random restaurant is the best in a city on Chowhound.com, watch food bloggers tear you apart, and wait for their recommendations proving you wrong.
  
• Making Rachel Ray jokes and praising Hung (winner of Top Chef season 3)
  

I was of course excited to have him sign my book and take a picture.

Me: I loved your chapter on Vietnam, we just went there last winter. My mom makes the best Vietnamese food.
Bourdain: I wish I had a Vietnamese mom!

What Would You Do...

If you were "asked to leave" college after drawing swastikas on dormitory doors to make a point?

One of the incidents that Alex had to work on this weekend was investigating a string of vandalisms across the residence halls at GW. After catching a student who drew two swastikas and scrawled a racial epithet on Saturday (full story here), the University caught another student who drew swastikas on her door "looking for acknowledgment from University that someone drew a swastika on the door," (full story here).

On the one hand I feel sad that this freshman felt that she had to resort to vandalizing her own door, and that she is leaving the university for drawing a racist symbol even though she did not have a racist intent. I am sure that another university will take her, but for a long time she will have to explain to other people why she got kicked out of her first school.

Yet on the other hand I feel like it was just really stupid. First and foremost, she contributed to the tensions on the campus and could have caused distress on many students. When the police first asked her about it, she did not even take ownership of her stand.

Secondly, who is she to assume that the university was not fully aware or did not care about the previous vandalism incidents. Maybe I am too biased on the side of the establishment (police, university, boyfriend who works for the university), but it does seem like they took this seriously and did not need the prodding of another student. They did in fact find the first perpetrator.

I know there are worse things to be kicked out of college for, but this would still not be a fun one to explain over Thanksgiving dinner.

Race to '08

My Boyfriend, the Crime Fighter

Between reading cases for my Higher Education class and spending time with Alex while he was on duty as a resident director this weekend, I have developed even more respect for people who work at universities.

Technically these students are adults, but then you have to handle people who are usually living on their own for the first time. Not easy.

The stories that Alex is permitted to tell me are crazier than the craziest stories that we read in our Criminal Procedure casebook. Just this weekend, he had four major (and unbelievable) incidents that he had to handle at all hours of the day-- last night from 2-5am.

When we walk through the campus, he knows all the university police officers. I joke that he should become a prosecutor or detective with all his experience handling these situations.

Hearing all of these stories also makes me wonder if the serious drug usage and other criminal activity was as pervasive at UCLA. It is completely possible that I was oblivious to it, especially since it was such a large school. But I am going to venture to say that we had less incidents. GW is the most expensive university to attend in the country, and you know what they say...mo money mo problems.