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Choice

So…this is my first blog post on my first ever blog. It’s hard to know what to write about. I could tell you how awesome school is, or even, the reverse. And, in certain ways, both will be true. The school is fantastic. The teachers are always willing to help, students are friendly, the organizations are active, etc… All in all, I really do get the feeling that pretty much everyone here cares about the school. This is the same feeling that occurred when I visited this place some months ago, and, importantly, it isn’t a feeling I received from other schools. But, this isn’t to say everything is rosy. Law school can be tough, physically and emotionally. There is always work to be done, and a lot of the time, it is really, really boring. What’s worse, you’ll likely forget it by the time you need it, or, maybe, (this is the fun part) it won’t be the law anymore. All this makes school demanding, in every sense. Add to that the fact that this is, by far, the furthest I have ever moved from “home” and it just makes things that much more trying. (Indeed, it is just about the furthest I could have moved from home and still been in the States.) It is not so much that I have felt homesick or anything, quite the opposite really; Portland feels more like home than many places in Virginia did.  Which, I think, really says something about Portland, i.e. it is pretty rad, to use the local slang. Let me qualify this a little, if you love any of the following things, you’ll probably love Portland:

  • Bicycles
  • Music
  • Co-ops
  • Markets
  • Beer
  • Liberal/Radical Politics (I’ll just lump these in.)
  • Mountains (Volcanoes!)
  • Food
  • Street Food
  • Vegetarianism/Veganism
  • General Friendliness

The list can go on, but this just about sums up my experiences so far.  All these things, I think, are pretty great. But there is always something that evens it out, right? Nowhere is always wonderful. The infamous rain has yet to really start, and I imagine it will put a damper on some of my Portland enthusiasm. But what’s worse, and ultimately more important: unemployment. According to the Dept. of Labor the rate here in Oregon is at 11.5%, while the national rate is 9.8%. A bit worse, but it seems few places are faring well. It’s hard for me to know how this could affect summer jobs, or how the economy will be doing in a couple years, but it is a worry in the air here.

            So, now, you may be wondering what the point to all of this is…me too. I think it’s to be found in these really simple, seemingly obvious, statements. A lot goes into making a choice. A lot of those things we consider we are going to get wrong. And, a lot of factors we will just never be able to consider. But somehow, things can still work out.

4 November 2009