Participated in Malcolm Madness yet again as an impersonator. I’m not going to give you the details, but it involves me wearing a blouse and black stockings, spoofing a lady professor (with parts of Darth Vader, Sauron, and Gollum). I didn’t attack her personality, but I did question her pedagogical methods. Rote memorization is certainly a useful trick, but it’s useful only for an extremely narrow context (TheSnappyLitigator Pattern), and often the costs involved in getting to that place is staggering. I look back at the mindless hours I’ve spent memorizing provisions, thinking just how much profitable the time would have been reading and comparing annotations, law journal articles, and just discussing finer points with my smart and capable classmates. Blind subservience to the text of the rules alone is dangerous - the unwarranted focus may give one the notion that there could only be one possible rule, one possible solution. Azh nazg durbatulûk, azh nazg gimbatul, azh nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.
Found out this morning that my impersonation got first prize. Cool! My first ever prize in law school is for a comedy sketch! I see a fruitful career as a litigator. Or maybe a Congressman.
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