February 7, 2015

"But Lublin hated 'everything [about law school] from nine-point font in thick textbooks to the Socratic method to classmates who were really..."

"...just fighting for the right to be on law review, which was looking up your professor’s footnotes for an article that was going to appear in a journal that maybe twelve people would read."

From a New Yorker article by Alice Gregory titled "R U There?/A new counselling service harnesses the power of the text message." Lublin is Nancy Lublin, who dropped out of NYU School of Law after 4 semesters and who is involved in a crisis hotline that communicates with teenagers solely through the medium of texting.

The whole article is interesting, but I wanted to pull that quote because I knew the words "a journal that maybe twelve people would read" would cause heartache to the smug and I'm cruel like that.

19 comments:

rhhardin said...

More people would reead law journals if they had comments.

David said...

Sounds like Lublin didn't make Law Review.

Laslo Spatula said...

"but I wanted to pull that quote because I knew the words "a journal that maybe twelve people would read" would cause heartache to the smug and I'm cruel like that."

Althouse makes for a better matador than Madonna. Poke those bulls.

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

NYT Times: shameless editing.

Raping the Man: Shameless show.

Madonna: shameless hussy.

Shaming culture: shameful thinking.

Lublin / "I'm cruel like that": Althouse, shameless.


I like where today is going.

I am Laslo.

David said...

Describing what the organization expects of its counselors:

It is important to type carefully. In text messages sent to friends, typos can be an indication of intimacy. But a typo appearing on the cell-phone screen of a distressed teen-ager can undermine the sense of authority he’s looking for.

So a bit of the law review mentality crept in.

pm317 said...

would cause heartache to the smug and I'm cruel like that.

Sounds like Althouse didn't make Law Review.

Wince said...

Laslo Spatula said...
NYT Times: shameless editing.
the Man: Shameless show.
Madonna: shameless hussy.
Shaming culture: shameful thinking.
Lublin / "I'm cruel like that": Althouse, shameless.
I like where today is going.


Althouse's Fifty Shames of Gray.

Paddy O said...

"a journal that maybe twelve people would read"

Millions read 50 Shades of Grey, but what is the quality of those millions? Wastrel, distracted, emaciated in soul.

Twelve may read the article, but who are those twelve: intelligent, thoughtful, influential.

Smugness retaliates.

Academics don't have much, but they have a strong ego and fancy words to feed it with.

Speaking of which, I have a new book out this week. I'm currently open to offers for the movie rights.

mikee said...

Back when articles were still referenced via bound indices, my wife and I were once listed sequentially in an annual ACS index for papers we each had published, in completely separate fields, from different universities.

If you are looking for ephemeral, inconsequential bragging rights from unread published articles, you'll have to work hard to beat that coincidental listing.

David said...

pm317 said...

Sounds like Althouse didn't make Law Review.


Incorrect, 317. She was a academic superstar. No. 1 in the class, as I recall.

From Inwood said...

Gee back when, I prepared prospectuses (prospecti?) & I would've been happy if 12 people (other than lawyers & accountants) read 'em.

And PhD theses (dissertations...)

traditionalguy said...

For twenty rears I was one of those twelve who subscribed to and read several Law Reviews. It was probably because I was interested in the younger generations attempts to do what I had tried so hard to do. It Was like watching early life forms emerge from the sea to form simple life.

ddh said...

"...just fighting for the right to be on law review, which was looking up your professor’s footnotes for an article that was going to appear in a journal that maybe twelve people would read."

But all professors' lives have worth.

Kirk Parker said...

Paddy,

Hey, at least your efforts are on Amazon, rather than cited in an obscure catalog that only twelve people will read. ;-) AFAIK actual copies aren't available, outside the remaining physical copies of the (minuscule) original print runs.

Paddy O said...

Kirk, indeed!

Yet now I feel like such a sell-out. I've lost my intellectual purity by the potential of more readers (more than 12 readers not guaranteed, especially at $55 a pop, $51 on Kindle).

Kirk Parker said...

Ouch!

Well, I guess it's "set an academic-market price, get academic-press sized readership."

I wonder at what point self-publishing in academia will become a viable option? Or could it happen already if the author is a big enough "name"?

Kirk Parker said...

Holy cow! It turns out I am on Amazon after all.

However, truer words were seldom spoken than the accompanying disclaimer: "Out of Print--Limited Availability." I guess Amazon's idea is, if it has an ISBN number it's in their database?

Beldar said...

Well, of course, a lot of legal writing is written for an idealized audience consisting of only nine.*

(*Until Congress amends the Judiciary Act to specify a larger or smaller SCOTUS.)

richard mcenroe said...

"...which maybe twelve people would read" is a risky gambit for someone with a limited regular circle of commentators. (Though I'll admit you have a skosh more than 12 readers.)