Family Feud

Good News: My brother is coming out to DC/MD for a business trip.
Bad News: UCLA lost to Cal today, 41-20.
Bad News: My brother, who went to Cal, will be able to gloat in person.
Good News: Cal's win combined with the fact that my brother has a paying job makes a good case for why my brother should pay for dinner when he comes to visit.

Prop 8

Hi Dad-

I got your text message yesterday about how to vote for the propositions, specifically whether you should vote against Proposition 8 to make a point to the conservatives. I do not really feel passionate or know enough about any of the other propositions really to sway you any way except to reassure you that you should vote no on Proposition 8.

It seems like the biggest arguments against allowing gay marriage has been that it "undermines the value of marriage altogether at a time when we should be restoring marriage, not undermining it." (Yes on 8 website) From my summer in California and dabbling in family law, it seemed like the status of marriage had not changed since before California Court allowed gay marriages. Straight couples still got married, and still got divorced. No one in their divorce papers cited the fact that gay people got married as the reason why their marriage was dissolving. So I have yet to see how giving two men or two women the opportunity to marry really undermines a man and woman marrying.

The other main argument in favor of Proposition 8 is that "because public schools are already required to teach the role of marriage in society as part of the curriculum, schools will now be required to teach students that gay marriage is the same as traditional marriage, starting with kindergartners." Interestingly the Orange County Register, the Department of Education lawyers, and the courts have all stated that this is simply not true.

This whole notion of preserving marriage is actually funny to me as a law student because I have learned that what marriage is now is a lot more progressive than what it used to be, even just a few decades ago. Before, wives in a marriage had very few rights when it came to owning property, inheriting from wills, and even making contracts on their own. Something that our family can relate to more is the fact that interracial marriages were outlawed not long ago. But the laws changed for the better, in my opinion, and this is just the next step in the law.

I also find it interesting how fervently the churches are pushing Proposition 8. Mom told me that the priest was giving a sermon against gay marriage, even though this proposition would not force any church to recognize them. While I understand why the church wants to stand up for their beliefs, it is intriguing how many churches do not speak out as loudly against the death penalty, the war, corporate greed, or torture. I know where they stand on it; they just do not use the same pulpit against these issues.

Especially after going to a few weddings this year and watching others get engaged, I see how important marriage is to a relationship for many people. I could just not imagine how some of my friends could have this, but others could not because of who they are and who they love.

So yeah, there is my long answer for you. Vote no not just to send a message, but vote no on Proposition 8 because the proposition is wrong. I actually assumed that you would probably vote no anyway, but it was my excuse to write out what I was already going to blog about. Tell mom I say hi and rock the vote.

Love,
Na

We Can Do It

My friend Helen wrote a post today about the the effects of being a workaholic on a relationship. As she talked about how both she and her friend had boyfriends who get frustrated about how much they work, I wondered how many relationships have this kind of dynamic. Not more than an hour after I read this post and was talking on the phone with Alex about my day, he said, "You work too hard."

Perhaps after being told all of our lives that we can be anything we want to be and that we have more opportunities than ever in history, women are taking it to the fullest. The majority of my friends or other women I know work full days or are in the classroom obtaining our professional degrees, take our work home with us, plan social events for the organizations we belong to, insist on putting dinner on the table, and want to have children who we can be PTA members for. We want equality in the workplace without also giving up roles traditionally assigned to women. We want it all.

And maybe many of us gravitate to significant others who balance us out. Who tell us to take a break, not to let work define us, not think about work all the time, and relax. I know that dating Alex has made me less of a workaholic (yes, I used to be worse). It is almost a little scary to think about what it would be like to date someone who is as bad as I am.

I first postured that this was a generational thing, but then I realized that this is not a completely new phenomenon. My dad always tells my mom that she needs to stop taking her work home with her. Perhaps daughters inherit this trait from mothers. And then we befriend other females who are like us. Birds of feather flock together.

Just Say No

I still have not submitted my absentee ballot yet because I am not sure about the propositions. The only one I am really undecided about is the proposition regarding a high speed rail from Southern California to Northern California. While it would be great for the environment (no 6+ hour drives or wasteful plane trips), a blessing for my family because we span the state, and helpful to tourism, the big question is always about how this would all be financed. My knowledge of bonds is limited to what I learned building cities on the Sim City game (which is very little). CA friends, tell me why this is good or bad.

As for the rest of the propositions, I am voting no and urge others to do the same. If there is one thing I am more adamant about than people voting for Obama-Biden, it's voting no on propositions they know little, or are even on the fence about.

While propositions may support things that all sound great by themselves, they are often costly endeavors that make California's budget even more of wreck than it already is. Many propositions are also much more complicated issues than can be presented on a commercial or mailer. Call me elitist, but I am not a big believer in direct democracy.

Breadwinners and Breadbakers

If you are looking for bakers or chefs, go to law school. From organizing our journal's staff breakfast, I learned that we have a lot. When I came up with the idea of the breakfast, I thought people would just buy items. Instead, we had homemade bread, Georgia peach coffee cake, crab and swiss quiche, blueberry muffins, pumpkin cranberry muffins (my addition), and even lemon, bacon, blueberry muffins. I am tempted to organize another potluck to see what else people come up with.

When I was at UCLA, I do not remember being around as many gourmands. Back then, I became everyone's hero for making something as easy as an apple crisp. Now, it seems like everyone cooks. Almost every food-related party that I have been to in law school includes homemade dishes rather ordered food.

Is there something about law school that attracts this certain kind of person? Overachievers who want to work and put a fancy dinner on the table? Elitists who like stinky cheeses and European chocolates? People who like to nourish others? Or is that we are around an older set of people now who live in real apartments and have to cook real meals instead of sneak into the dining hall? Or have people refined their cooking skills as a way to guiltlessly avoid work (we all have to eat, right)?

And a good question, probably in the head of our significant others, is whether this will continue once we graduate and start working those lawyer hours?

[Picture borrowed from Above the Law]

Cold & Colder

People like to say that being sick while it is nice and warm outside is the worst. I am just going to say that being sick is horrible no matter what the weather is.

It dropped 30 degrees in one week. Last week, I it was 80 degrees and I wore dresses to school. This week, the weather is in the 50s and I am bundling up in sweaters, jackets, and boots. My body cannot deal with this schizophrenic weather.

Falling for Fall

Fall is by far my favorite season and yesterday pretty much embodied everything I love about it.

Alex and I started off the day driving through Rock Creek Park, which was especially gorgeous now because the leaves are changing colors. It was bright and sunny, with the autumn crisp in the air, my favorite type of weather.

We headed up the GW's Mount Vernon campus for "Fall Fest" where we got to carve pumpkins, eat pumpkin-flavored treats, and drink apple cider. Of course, I made an Obama pumpkin. It is not as elaborate as some of the jack-o-laterns on YesWeCarve, but I am still proud of my little pumpkin because I did not use a stencil.

Afterwards had turkey, cranberry, and apple sandwiches out at the picnic tables at Jetties, before heading off to the UCLA bar to watch UCLA's homecoming game against Stanford. Of course everything was so much better because we finally won a game.

Changing leaves, pumpkins, apple cider, turkey, football, sweater weather. I love fall.

[blurry photos courtesy of Alex's blackberry]