I'm Getting My Learn On. I'll Be Back Soon

The young law professor stood apart in too many ways to count. At a school where economic analysis was all the rage, he taught rights, race and gender. Other faculty members dreamed of tenured positions; he turned them down. While most colleagues published by the pound, he never completed a single work of legal scholarship. …

At a formal institution, Barack Obama was a loose presence, joking with students about their romantic prospects, using first names, referring to case law one moment and “The Godfather” the next. He was also an enigmatic one, often leaving fellow faculty members guessing about his precise views. …

Before he outraised every other presidential primary candidate in American history, Mr. Obama marched students through the thickets of campaign finance law. Before he helped redraw his own State Senate district, making it whiter and wealthier, he taught districting as a racially fraught study in how power is secured. And before he posed what may be the ultimate test of racial equality — whether Americans will elect a black president — he led students through African-Americans' long fight for equal status.

Standing in his favorite classroom in the austere main building, sharp-witted students looming above him, Mr. Obama refined his public speaking style, his debating abilities, his beliefs.


Posting, as you may have noticed, has been light around here for the past few days. When the economic downturn kicked in, so did interest in the website that pays me. We've been swamped for months. This past week has been particularly nasty. So my attention has been at work and not on this non-rent paying diversion.

Then, when I finally see a light at the end of the tunnel, I stumble across the above article, and it contains Sen. Obama's syllabus for his course on Current Issues on Race and the Law. That's when this recovering academic fell off the wagon. I've been nerd-drunk all afternoon, and will likely remain that way for the foreseeable future, as I plan to read through his course material. (150 pages of reading a week? Ha! Law students, what a bunch of pussies. Just kidding, Law Guy.) In other words, posting will be light for a while.

Use the blog roll if you need entertaining and thoughtful things to read. Of course, if you needed something entertaining and thoughtful to read, you wouldn't be here, would you? What to do, what to do.