year 4

With all of the baking, the yelping, the baseball, the crocheting, my summertime discovery of the Newport Beach Public Library, and other random excursions, you have got to be wondering if I'm still in grad school or how I have time to even be in grad school. Rest assured, I'm still here, and in case you're keeping track, I started my fourth year about six weeks ago.

I'm not taking classes anymore, a moment that I have been awaiting for about the past year and a half. I'm TAing for Constitutional Law: Individual Liberties for the dean of the law school, a constitutional law god. I'm enjoying the freedom that comes from not taking classes, and I like working on my own papers instead of being responsible for weekly readings, reaction papers, and course papers for classes that are sometimes not useful. I've heard that some students face the difficulty of staying motivated and disciplined once they finish classes, but I think I'm handling the unstructured quarter pretty well so far. I'm doing a lot of reading, looking for a dissertation topic and figuring out where I fit in. I've found a home in public law, and it seems like a good fit and a good way to study women's rights, gender, race, and women's sexuality.

So there you have it. I'm staying busy, but mostly productive. I'll let you know when something more interesting happens.