small town

When I was student teaching in Fairbanks, I was pretty traumatized the day I ran into a student at the grocery store. She was one of those bitchy 13-year-olds, and this was long before I knew how to turn that attitude into self-esteem and loyalty. And, I had a cart full of alcohol. And condoms. Not full of condoms, but I had a boyfriend and we were ... intimate. Hm, I'd forgotten about him.

But this isn't about the ex-boyfriend who liked to drive with an open beer to sip from as he drove. (Our values did not mesh on several major issues.)

This is about the trauma I put my writing instructor through every time I run into her in the grocery store. Today was I think the third time. She was wiped out - it was a long day of arguments and I think she was sick. She wanted to grab something and get out as quickly as possible, and when I go to the grocery store, I'm all Louisiana - chatty and friendly and slow-paced. Which is funny, because she's the native Louisianan and I'm a recent transplant. But she saw me and I saw that trauma of "Oh damn, I have to be professional." Not that she's ever wild and crazy, but most people treat strangers and students differently.

I said, "Oh, you're done? How are you doing?" I could have stood and talked 20 minutes there, but that was saved for the guy behind me in the check-out line. I've really become a Southerner. But we kept it quick. The apex was, "You guys [how can she be a southerner feminist and say "you guys?!"] did really good. You did great." Seriously, the intonation was there, and I've never heard that before. I'm sure she was just tired and wanted me to go away.

But still, it's nice to hear because I won't get my grade for another month. The funny part during my oral argument was that the timekeeper (my teaching fellow, who has a real genuine friendliness that the instructor lacks because she's always too uptight) lost track of time because, "Oh, I was listening and got too interested and forgot!"

I wasn't great, but I think I was pretty good. I really do think that my experience with reluctant teenage learners could help me in my legal career. The Supreme Court gives tough hypotheticals to attorneys, but no tougher than a 13-year-old's "Why do I have to learn ALGEBRA?!"

I've always said that I'm *not* interested in litigation - and my main reasoning for that is that I don't like the combativeness, the competition of one winner and one loser. I've been interested in designing contracts and transactions that do NOT lead to litigation - that's one of my goals as an attorney. I like win-wins where everybody is happy, and I think that in most cases things can flow that way - and that's antithetical to litigation.

But I'll tell you, there might be something for me in trial and appellate work. I know how to work a classroom and I like it. A lot usually. Maybe I can just transfer that to working a jury and panel of judges.

Well, that's all in the future, but it's food for thought.

For now, I have a refrigerator stocked with very healthy foods. My suit was a bit tight today, and I need to lose weight to make it fit better.