Hello everyone! I am about to begin my third week of law school classes. I have been gradually acclimating myself to this new field of study. So far, my classes are going well, and I’ve found that I’m actually kind of enjoying the material. My knowledge of Latin and premodern history have even proven useful on a few occasions! For instance, in my torts class last week, we read and discussed I de S et ux. v. W de S, a 1348 English Court of Assizes case that is preserved in the Liber Assisarum et Placitorum Corone (Book of Assizes and Appeals to the Crown). I had a lot of fun in class explaining the Year Books, late medieval English scribal practices, how to interpret medieval Latin shorthand, and the common law doctrine of coverture and how it limited married women’s ability to sue in court. (I also covered the facts, procedural history, reasoning, and holding of the case.)
I have been continuing to read and study history, literature, and philosophy for my own edification in the available time I have, and I do plan to continue making posts on this blog when I am able to do so. That being said, my available time for writing is limited because I have a lot of reading, studying, and writing for class to do and, inevitably, my schoolwork must take priority over this blog. I am hoping to make at least one post about actual historical content per month going forward, but we will see how well I hold to that.
In the meantime, I am also continuing to work on my novel in progress, Mother of the Gods. Progress on the novel has been slow recently due to my limited available time, but I do not intend to abandon it, and I did spend a few hours working on it just last week.
Great to hear from you!
I can only assume your workload will increase, and new relationships will also demand your time, so anything you write here will be a treat – thank you.
I will definitely need to maintain this blog for a couple of reasons. The first is because I need to have an outlet where I can continue to share my interest in premodern history. The second is because maintaining the small income I make off this blog will slightly decrease the absolute mountain of student debt that I will have to take on in order to pay for this law degree, which is eye-wateringly expensive. Any decrease in the amount of loans I have to take out will also decrease the amount of money I will eventually have to pay in interest.
Hello, Spencer McDaniel,
I hope to receive your post always.
In whatever ‘field of work’ you choose, I am with you.
With thanks always for-
so many of your enlightening, most informative contributions about ancient facts,
in my email.
I wish you all Best of love,
and good studies ahead,
Maya Toman
Congratulations and best wishes. I found it extremely beneficial during law school to have a few reliable study partners with whom I could discuss the assigned cases and other material. Sometimes there’s no substitute for wrestling through some concepts.
Thanks! It’s always helpful to hear advice from people who have already been through it. I have gotten to know a few people a little bit, but I haven’t really developed a strong friend circle, or at least not yet.
Congrats, Spencer. Please allow yourself to enjoy this time, instead of getting bogged down in academic stress. You’ve got a bunch of people rooting for ya!
Thanks! I’m sure I will be stressed anyway, since I virtually always am, but I will still try to enjoy myself as much as I can.
Thanks for the update! I’m glad you’ve had use of your classicist training now in legal studies.
And I look forward to new articles from you!
“How you uh, how you comin’ on that novel you’re working on? Huh? Gotta a big, uh, big stack of papers there? Gotta, gotta nice little story you’re working on there? Your big novel you’ve been working on for three years? Huh? Gotta, gotta compelling protagonist? Yeah? Gotta obstacle for him to overcome? Huh? Little story brewing there? Working on, working on that for quite some time? Huh? Yeah, talking about that three years ago. Been working on that the whole time? Nice little narrative? Beginning, middle, and end? Some friends become enemies, some enemies become friends? At the end your main character is richer from the experience? Yeah? Yeah? No, no, you deserve some time off.”
– Stewie Griffin, Family Guy (I couldn’t resist the urge to use this quote, and I do hope it’ll be as good as we expect from you)
Writing a novel usually takes a long time. It requires a lot of rewriting and revising, which is exactly what I am doing. I only started writing this novel a year and a half ago, which is, quite frankly, not very long ago by novel-writing standards. Please don’t be impatient. I don’t know how long this novel will take, but I am more interested in making it good than in getting it done fast.
I was making a joke!
Ok, I’m sorry I didn’t get the joke. I’ve never watched the show Family Guy, nor do I know anything about it, so, if the joke had something to do with the context of the quote you used, that would be the reason why.
It’s just that a character is writing a novel. Again, I really wanted to use that quote.
I’m glad you’re succeeding at law school. I hope to eventually read of your successful graduation.
Well, I don’t know if I’m succeeding yet, but I am at least doing relatively well so far. I’m only three weeks in at this point, so it is still too early to assess.
Seems like it’s going well.
Excellent news, Spencer! Don’t worry about producing many in-depth posts on Classics or history. Just a short note on how you’re doing in general is much appreciated. We’re all here to support you and appreciate your journey.
Spencer, happy to see that you’re still sharing your deep interest in the classics with the world. Do you remember our paths crossing in Summer 2017 in a small town in northeast Indiana? Right now I’m teaching assistant for an ethical theory course with a professor of mine. We’re reading the Odyssey and Nicomachean ethics and I thought of you.
I apologize for this late response; I just saw this comment. I received your request to connect on LinkedIn, but I initially ignored it because I didn’t recognize you at first. Now that I’ve read this comment, though, I do remember you! That was a very long time ago, and I have changed a lot since then. It’s great to hear from you, though, after all this time.
Just to note, your knowledge of Latin and medieval social history may enrich your life, but it will not generally help you on the exams, which are normally the only thing that matters when grades are assigned. You should start now finding some practice exams (you can ask your professors or a TA if there is one), and hopefully some model answers, so you know what is coming and how to address it. Law school exams generally consist of fact patterns which you are supposed to analyze. For instance, in Civil Procedure, given a wrong by defendant X against plaintiff Y which occurred in state A (or is that really where the wrong was done?), does the court of state B have personal jurisdiction over the defendant? Under what authority or principle? Canvassing the issues knowledgeably is more important than knowing the right answer to the ultimate question (which may not be unclear in any case).
Thanks, I appreciate the advice. I’ve heard the same advice before, but it is always beneficial to hear a reminder of it.
I’m currently halfway through the first semester, and Legal Research and Writing is starting to get tough. I’ve already learned that the conventions and expectations for legal writing are totally different (and, in many cases, the opposite of) how I have learned to write in my previous studies. So far, I am holding together, but, of course, we haven’t had first-semester exams yet, and I can’t really have any idea of where I am in the class until after we receive our exams grades.