It's been a week.

I got into a heated discussion (read: argument) with a fellow 1L yesterday. Oopsie, there went my plan for staying under the radar!

My approach to law school has been to stay focused, limit who I talked to so that I could be sure to maintain a positive mindset, and overall try to enjoy this crazy experience.

Living in a red state for the first time, I did not want to be dismissed as the liberal nutjob by my more conservative peers. But, a girl has limits, and in the immortal words of Patrick Swayze, "nobody puts baby in a corner."

So, here's what happened:

I'm in the hallway outside my professor's office, waiting for the professor to end her student meeting so that I can pick something up from her.

Then, a friend walks up and we start chatting. This friend is native american, and the conversation turns to whether she might want to practice indian law, and some of the lobbying work she did prior to school to help a case against an organization they believe was funding racist groups.

While this is going on, another student walks up and waits (he was also waiting for the professor). He doesn't say anything, but just listens to what we're talking about. I've never talked to this person before but he is in a few of my classes.

Then my friend needs to leave, and as soon as she is out of earshot, the exchange with him begins:

Him: It's always interesting when they want their rights considered, but they never consider the other side.
[His tone suggested that as a fellow white person, I would understand his statement.]
Me: I don't know what you mean.
Him: They always put things in their perspective and expect their side to be heard, but they are not willing to consider whites' rights.
Me (thinking, "oh jesus, here we go."): I don't think she was saying that at all (then I went through the things we were talking about - most of which he had missed because he wasn't even there - including problems relating to prosecuting crimes committed by non-indians on tribal lands, and the litigation thing she worked on).
Him: [The organization mentioned above] is not racist.
[At this point, another student was present and thankfully he was interjecting.]
Other Student: But most nationalist groups are.
Him: That's true, and I'm not saying I support [that organization]. But they just generalize and try to say that all white people are racist.
Me: She wasn't saying that at all. I mean, I'm white, so if she was trying to say that all white people are racist why would she say that to me?
Other Student: Right.
Him: Do you have kids, or do you want kids?
Me (thinking this was a weird tangent): I don't have kids, and I don't know if I will.
Him: Well, when you have a son, and he's white, and he can't get in to the school he wants, you'll understand (he ended this with a slight wink, giving off the impression that I was naive, and once I popped out a kid and had some epiphany I would wisen up and understand his perspective.)
Me (heat rising up the back of my neck): I'm 32 years old. I know what my beliefs are. There have been barriers in my life and I worked around them.
[At this point he rolls his eyes which I interpret to mean that I had breaks because I'm a woman.]
Me: You think that I got in to law school because I'm a woman? (I know I was making a leap here, but if there was a chance this was his point I had to say something.) The majority of our class is men!

At this point my professor opened the door, and I ended the convo with the student and picked up what I needed from the professor. He then went in to meet with her and I continued talking to the Other Student outside her office before heading off the library to badmouth him to some people.

I was really worked up from this exchange with him. I was offended that because I was white, he assumed I would join in on a racist exchage (this has happened to me before and it's sick) - and that he said it after my friend was out of earshot. Then, even though he's probably 10 years younger than me, he has the effing gaul to tell me that because I don't have children I really don't understand how the world works. Then (if I interpreted him correctly) my presence at the law school means I stole a spot from another white male who was more deserving.

I just kept thinking: who the f*** does he think he is?

The majority of our class is men (60%) when the national average for law schools is 50:50 or 51% women. Further, the majority of men in my class are white. So I'm sorry, how are they at a disadvantage? Because it's not 100% male and white? Umm, maybe my ovaries were not the deciding factor when it came to admitting me. Perhaps I'm just smarter or more accomplished than other white, male candidates. What a frickin' concept.

But, I had a good chat about it with some friends and I feel better about the whole thing now. In fact (and this is switching gears), I'm hoping you can meet some of my friends if you ever come visit! There's one friend I've nicknamed "Resident Polish Sexpot" (she's polish, married but hot for all the young guys - and she's 34). She gave herself the nickname "Mormon Schicksa" because all the young mormon boys are nice to her. She was a sympathetic ear yesterday. I think we talked for three hours in the library about the people at school we are currently hating. It was a lovely way to work out the anger!

PS: Happy Birthday Chris Carter, a fellow 13'er.