Tim Russert, RIP

Today when I came back from lunch, my friend sent me a message: Did you hear about Tim Russert? My heart sank, as I knew it could not be good news. Tim Russert dies of Heart Attack at 58.

Although I am a political and news junkie, I do not watch or listen to many pundits. I do not like the preaching to the choir, the bickering, or the superficial news. However, every week I would download the 'Meet the Press' podcast because it seemed different. In addition to the great opening theme music that my friend Ben and I love so much, Tim Russert had everyone on his show, asking them difficult questions and most importantly, challenging them on their answers in a non-combative manner-- something we do not often see in news today. I remember how during the primary, he had all the Presidential candidates on his show- questioning everyone from Barack Obama to Ron Paul to Ralph Nader to John McCain in the same fair manner. It was incredible how great his questions were to such a diverse set of people.

“Lawrence Spivak, who founded ‘Meet the Press,’ told me before he died that the job of the host is to learn as much as you can about your guest’s positions and take the other side,” he said in a 2007 interview with Time magazine. “And to do that in a persistent and civil way. And that’s what I try to do every Sunday.” --Tim Russert [MSNBC]

Tim Russert certainly fulfilled this goal and had a tremendous impact on so many people. The lawyers in my office all talked about how sad this was, and many of my liberal and conservative friends' facebook statuses and gchat messages mourned this death. I even think this surpassed the number of people who talked about the Laker loss, which says a lot (or at least says a lot about who I hang out with). I knew a lot of my friends follow current events actively, but I was actually surprised about how many of them watched Meet the Press.

As so many of my friends said: Sundays just will not be the same.

I think one of the saddest parts is that this Sunday is Father's Day. In addition to being an award-winning journalist, all the news stories said that Tim Russert was also a great dad. Heck, he even has awards to prove it: In 1995, the National Father’s Day Committee named him “Father of the Year,” Parents magazine honored him as “Dream Dad” in 1998, and in 2001 the National Fatherhood Initiative also recognized him as Father of the Year. [MSNBC] Thoughts and prayers go out to his family.

As all the news stations pay tribute to Tim Russert with clips from his work and biographies, I hope that they also honor him by following in his approach to news.

[Photo courtsey of NYT]

Kozinski, We Thought We Knew You

Kozinski? Isn't he the unibomber guy?

Along with our own language of legalese, the law bubble has it's own kind of celebrities. While most normal people are talking about Kobe or Obama, the law bubble has been buzzing about Judge Alex Kozinski. Like Judge Learned Hand (yes, that's his real name) and Judge Richard Posner, Judge Kozinski is in the category of well-respected, influential, and intelligent judges who will never get appointed to the Supreme Court.

Judge Kozinski (no relation to unibomber Ted Kaczynski) is the Reagan-appointed Chief Judge on the notoriously liberal Ninth Circuit. The big case in the Ninth right now is an obscenity case. Turns out that Judge Kozinski had sexually explicit content on his website. I won't go into what the images entailed, you can read the article for yourself. So far the trial has been suspended for possible conflict issues, and Kozinski has called for an investigation on himself.

I think the jaws of many law students across the country dropped when that story hit the news. Or we started laughing. And we all thought the same two things: oh ninth circuit, oh Reagan appointee (translate: conservative).

[Photo of Kozinski courtesy of California Lawyer Magazine]

An Advocate for Me

For the past day I have been dealing with some less than pleasant roommate/subletting issues. Having lived with great roommates for the past five years, I got spoiled. But now I remember what it's like dealing with someone difficult in an area that is supposed to be your sanctuary.

As my dad pointed out, this is like a test-- a lawyer test. I have to be able to stand my ground. It's funny how I can be such a zealous advocate for real and imaginary clients, but when it comes to confronting people in my own life, I can fold pretty easily.

Part of the reason why I am drawn to the law is the ability to help other people and I like examining all sides of the issue. However, I sometimes think I have a blind spot for helping myself and looking at issues from my point of view. When it comes between me v. someone else, I can be easily persuaded onto their side because I want to help them. I feel bad for them, even at times when I should not.

I need to find a balance, because eventually the law is going to eat me alive if I cannot hold my own ground or become too emotionally invested in the other side. My goal in this situation is to represent myself with the fight that I would represent anyone else. I have to live up to my law school nickname of the Hurricane.

Top Chefing

Since I have many friends who are as anxious about tomorrow's Top Chef finale as I am, I thought I would put together some rankings. Yes, I have too much time on my hands, but I am avoiding doing other things right now.

Favorite Top Chefs (Name/Season)

1. Harold (S1): Set the bar of how all top chef's should be: talented, humble, and a leader to other cooks.
   
2. Hung (S3): Probably the most skilled chefs in the series. Could be a jerk but backed it up. Plus I think it was mostly an act since he never had problems in group challenges. (Bonus points for representing Vietnamese-Americans)
   
3. Casey (S3): Food always looked great and she always set a positive tone in the kitchen.
   
4. Stephanie (S4): See Casey (here's to hoping she does not falter in the finale like Casey)
   
5. LeAnne (S1): The first female chef who demonstrated that you could get far in the male-dominated cooking world without being a jerk.
   
6. Sam (S2): Should have won instead of Ilan.
   
7. Dale T. (S4): His Asian-influenced food always looked so good. Another person cut well before his time.
   
8. Richard (S4): His food appears really innovative and his nerdy sense of humor has really grown on me.
   
9. Tre (S3): Gotta have passion. Wish he was in the Season 3 finale instead of Dale L.
   
10. CJ (S3)/Antonio (S4): Yes I'm cheating so I can squeeze an eleventh in but I like them both for the same reason: funny commentary, California pride, and cut before someone less talented got by.
    

Least Favorite

1. Lisa (S4): Horrible attitude with many bad dishes that have landed her in the bottom. She should not be in the finals.
2. Emily (S2): I almost forgot about her until I went to wiki to see all the contestants. She was the one with the nasty personality who condescendingly blamed people's weight and unrefined palattes when they didn't like her food.
3. Dale L. (S3): Biggest whiner. Disliked him even more after his incomprehensible blog about Richard.
4. Howie (S3): Just a bully who sweat into all his food. Very gross.
5. Micah (S3): Another one with a sour attitude.

Read to Succeed

The good part about four and a half hour train rides is that it gives me a lot of time to read, something I do not do for fun at all during the school year. So far I have finished two books which were both good:

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder. Looking for a book to take with me to California, Alex tossed me this book that he had to read for Syracuse's Shared Reading Program. I think the University picked a great book for all undergrads to read because it is a biography about a Dr. Farmer who devotes his life to treating impoverished TB patients around the world, particularly Haiti, Peru, and Russia. Direct patient care is always his first priority and he studies cultures' politics, religions, and traditions to help treat patients better.

Although Dr. Farmer may sound like a modern-day Mother Theresa, the biography is not overly idealistic. Dr. Farmer's closest colleagues warn young medical students who may think they have to live exactly like Dr. Farmer that "Paul is a model of what should be done. He is not a model of how it has to be done." Moreover, I enjoyed how Dr. Farmer's work and philosophy challenges a lot of people's thinking, both liberal and conservative, on subjects. He spends a lot of money on patients instead of cautiously doing cost-benefit analyses, dislikes do-nothing white liberals, thinks using politically correct terms is a waste, and thinks Cuba has the best health care model in the world.

The other book I read was Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert. I would describe it as a "chick-flick" in book form-- only more witty and philosophical-- about a woman's year of soul-searching after her depression-inducing divorce. It was a good "escapism" book as I imagined I was traveling with the author. Italy was by far my favorite section- and not just because she talked about the delicious Italian food. Indian was more challenging to read- but that mirrors the author's own experience. Indonesia picked up the book again but I felt like it was a little too fairy-talish. Overall though, it was a good summer reading book.

After a biography and autobiography, I am moving onto fiction. Up next are Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet, and One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Both happen to book club picks by Oprah (who only lives a few miles away), but that is not why I chose either of them. Finally, my friend Helen also wrote a review of The Namesake by Jumpa Lahiri, which is a book my mom recommended and looks interesting.

So many books . . . fortunately I have a lot of time this summer. Let me know if you want to read or have read any of these books so we can be book buddies.

Big Family Tree

Even though my immediate family is pretty nuclear--two parents, two kids-- I still consider myself as part of a big family. That's because my mom is one of eight and my dad is one of seven. And unlike many big immigrant families, everyone's here in the U.S. In fact, 75% of this extended family is in California. [Note 1: I just realized that our only family out of the state are my mom's sisters in MN and TX, and my dad's sisters in MN and TX. My life is eerily symmetrical.][Note 2: This is why I don't think I could live in DC permanently, no one of our huge family is around].

So when we have birthday bbq's like today, it's going to be a big get-together even if only a fraction of my aunts and uncles, with their families, attend. Just today we had 21 people (6 of whom are June birthdays), which is just the Southern California contingency. That's a lot of meat.

I cannot even imagine how big weddings for my generation (brother, cousins, me) are going to be, especially since there won't be any for a while and the family seems to keep getting bigger.

Like the Number of Hours in the Day . . .

I am 24. Thanks to everyone who wished me happy birthday. This year has been a relatively low-key birthday, which is fitting since 24 is a pretty non-eventful age. It was nice though, just to relax and hang out with my family and cousins. Tomorrow we will have big family bbq extravaganza to celebrate the six(!) June birthdays in our family-- two cousins, uncle, uncle-in-law, grandpa, and me.

My parents also gave me a new phone. Purple, shiny, and has a camera. Now my little cousins (another set of cousins) cannot make fun of me for having an ancient non-flip phone.

Watch out next year though-- I will be able to run for Congress and rent a car without additional fees.