Thanks to Fellow Bloggers

I'd like to thank the first bloggers who linked to 3L Epiphany. They are:

·       T-Sinister - here

·       Cella Bellum - here

·       Equal Process - here

·       Cogitation - here

·       The Prejudicial Effect - here

·       Prof. Froomkin at Discourse.net - here

I’d like to comment on a few things. T-Sinister introduces me as “a 3L who is starting a blog to get a job.” That’s not entirely accurate. I do intend to explore the possibilities of using a blog for enhancing the job-seeking process. However, I’m definitely going through the traditional route as well, and I’m not putting all my eggs in the one basket of a blog. I hope that at the end of the semester my blog will be like an electronic portfolio that will impress potential employers. But needless to say, that is not what I’m going to get law credit for.

I enjoyed T-Sinister’s comment, “[H]e seems to be getting class credit for carrying this out as a kind of self-directed research project, which is either a pathbreaking bit of scholarship or an admirable exercise in raw chutzpah. So either way, good on him.” Thanks! I hope it’s a little bit of both.

I also thank Cella Bella for her recommendation. She calls this “

some sort of metaphysical self-referencing study on blawgs,” which is a neat way of putting it. Yet I’ll try not to make it too metaphysical or esoteric. Although there is a paradoxical aspect to blogging about your own blog, I’m planning on making 3L Epiphany something of practical and discernable value.

I enjoyed Equal Process’s post, although I hope the faculty and administration here at OSU don’t take it to heart (“I wonder how he suckered his school into this one?”). More accurately, as EP states, my “school is cutting edge.” And the process of getting this approved did not resemble his own prophetic description.

Cogitation notes that “when you think about it, it [blogging] is an area ripe for research.” He then adds, based on my description of what I’m doing, “I am sure he'll find out the more he reads, all blawgs are blawgs about themselves, in reality blawging has an aspect of 'meta meta' almost universally.” I appreciate that comment, and I do hope to keep a “meta-narrative” running through/along all my blogging that explains what I’m doing and why.

I fully agree with Prejudicial Effect that you can completely disregard the “The” that’s supposed to go in front of “Ohio State University.” As if there were another one. But it’s the name of the whole university; it’s not the law school’s fault. Anyway, thanks for calling this blog a “great idea.” 

And my first law professor citation comes from Prof. Froomkin at Discourse.net, who learned about it via Equal Process.  He singles out my quote about getting credit for blogging, which I intended to be provocative but is not actually the whole story. As I said, “There are a few addendums, a couple of quid pro quos.” (Bonus points to anyone who gets the cultural reference.) I will be getting credit for an Independent Study which incorporates this blog, and which among other things studies the phenomenon of “blawgs.” And of course 3L Epiphany is an integral part of my research, and will enable me to experience blogging firsthand.

I’d like to quote Prof. Froomkin in full, because I found this very gratifying:

“… I would be delighted to work out a blogging-for-credit project. But not anything so shapeless as the project described above. [That is, the comical project described by Equal Process.]

What would a good blogging-for-credit project look like? There's room for negotiation, but I think that the project would have to be focused as to subject, involve the application of actual legal research, and ideally be somewhat sensitive to current events. It might follow a notorious local trial, involving in-person attendance and explanations of what's going on. Or it could be a running commentary on, say, the most interesting cases decided by a particular circuit. (The trick here would be to contextualize, to add value to what we'd get anyway from the advance sheets.)

I’m sure there are other models too, and invite suggestions.”

I appreciate Prof. Froomkin’s openness to such a project, and hope that a student there at Miami will take him up on it. All of his ideas are excellent.

Thanks once again to all of these bloggers. And thanks also to those who emailed me or commented on the posts directly. I appreciate your encouragement, enthusiasm and advice.