Eugenio's Blog!

It’s amazing what can be accomplished in five days. I have finished my first legal paper for the Journal of Gender, Race & Justice, and I think it went pretty well. My finishing title was “The Manipulation of Science into Human-Made Law: ‘Natural’ Convenience in Determining Parentage.” Pretty nice, huh? I got to bash hard-science and proclaim the social sciences as supreme law – what more could I ask for?

Let us remember what the great Malcolm X said: “Of all our studies, history is best qualified to reward our research.”

This anger towards those who study engineering, computers, and the hard-sciences started in my undergraduate years, where the “North Quad” students had this “North Side Chicago” attitude – yknow, the “I’m better than you; you’re a peasant from the South Side / South Quad” approach. And I’m like, “Lose the ‘tude, dude.” It was capitalism in Urbana-Champaign at its best. Iowa doesn’t seem to have this sort of separation – everyone thinks they’re from the North Side.

I am looking forward to starting class on Tuesday. I have flipped through my syllabus for Constitutional Law II, and all of the topics seem very interesting – discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, and there are also some classes on affirmative action court decisions, abortion, and some other interesting and confrontational topics. I can’t wait!

As for my Labor Law class, the professor said on the first week assignment sheet posted in a main hall at the Law Building that “this course isn’t a TV show for your passive enjoyment.” I read the sheet for the first time surrounded by about fifteen nervous first-years, and they look at me like I’m a goof or something as I bust out laughing after reading the assignment sheet. If they only understood Labor Law.

As for mentoring the new first-years, the week went well. There are two people in my small section group of eight students that know Italian! What are the odds?!

I have received two grammatical revisions from C.I. (for Spanish) and D.D. (for English). The Spanish one is beyond my control – the template for the Spanish date conversion is already set and I don’t know how to change it. The English one is beyond my control too – I grew up on the South Side. (Holla!) “Me’s” and “I’s” are interchangeable as far as I am concerned. If you have any disputes about this, you can meet me on the corner of 35^th & Michigan, and we’ll just settle our grammar arguments there.

I went to go see Fahrenheit 9/11 Friday night. I can’t believe I was actually considering calling ahead for reservations to see it – there were, in addition to us, eight people in the entire theatre. Granted, I think I am the last person in the world to see the film, but still.

I was not impressed by the film. Maybe I was expecting this grand revelation of information, which there was at parts, but the information was presented in a boring manner. Even if FOXNews talks about the most boring topic ever, they still make it entertaining. Fahrenheit 9/11 was informational, but O’Reilly gives you more bang for your buck: news entertainment, major arrogance, slanted information, and personal rudeness – you can’t go wrong!