
On Not Being Able to Read - axiomdata316
https://longreads.com/2018/08/14/on-not-being-able-to-read/
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gnicholas
> _In law school, they told me I wouldn’t be able to read anymore. That the
> pleasure of the text, like a lover in a non-law degree, would slowly grow
> opaque to me._

This is strange — I never heard anything remotely like this in law school, and
most lawyers I know do a good deal of outside reading. I wonder where the
author heard this advice, and why she doesn't say who "they" is.

Am I the only one who never heard this cautionary advice in law school?

~~~
jaredhansen
I never heard anything like this either, and in fact my own experience was
opposite that of the author's: the _precision_ emphasized in law school simply
adds an additional dimension to the enjoyment of prose (or, once in a great
while, poetry).

The whole idea that "thinking like a lawyer" should mean you forget how to
_enjoy_ reading and writing reminds me of Keats' claim that Newton destroyed
the rainbow by explaining it. It's unfortunate that the author had such a bad
experience with the law - but this is either strikingly bad pedagogy or simply
a poor match with her specific personality, and shouldn't be taken as a
reflection on the practice of law itself.

~~~
crooked-v
I'm also reminded of tabletop gaming, where if done well the rules text
affects the je ne sais quoi of the game without having to be so crass as to
actually tell people how to play.

One example is the game Monsterhearts, where you play Buffy/Twilight/Teen
Wolf/etc "teenage supernatural drama" types. The rules are carefully designed
to make relationship drama and petty inter-group conflict a natural result of
play, even if the players are levelheaded sorts who wouldn't act that way at
all on their own.

~~~
fenwick67
Or Risk, which is apparently designed to make you hate your friends

~~~
BrandoElFollito
We had a rule of never finishing a Monopoly game. We would end at 70% or so,
so that people continue to talk to each other that night.

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porknubbins
People taking exception to the first sentence about not enjoying reading are
missing the point I think. This article describes really well the way that,
for me and a high percentage of my fellow law students, law school sucks the
joy out of all the other parts of your life.

For me it was some combination of the subject matter's tediousness,
endlessness and the pressure to perform, along with the idea that what you're
working toward is a 40 year career doing that same thing. Not necessarily a
correct or rational view but one that easily takes over in law school.

~~~
nickthemagicman
For me it was some combination of the subject matter's tediousness,
endlessness and the pressure to perform, along with the idea that what you're
working toward is a 40 year career doing that same thing.

Haha sounds like Tech.

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tarboreus
I actually still enjoy reading after six years of a Ph.D. in English, which I
think is a more unlikely feat than three years in law school.

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Koshkin
The same problem presents itself when switching from prose to poetry: too much
of the text seems to exist only for the sake of the form and, therefore, must
be consciously filtered out in order to get to the "real content."

------
jeromebaek
From the book the article references, the Alchemy of Race and Rights, Harvard
Press:

"Some time ago, Peter Gabel and I taught a contracts class together. (He was
one of the first to bring critical theory to legal analysis· and so is
considered a "founder" of Critical Legal Studies.) Both recent transplants
from California to New York, each of us hunted for apartments in between
preparing for class. Inevitably, I suppose, we got into a discussion of trust
and distrust as factors in bargain relations. It turned out that Peter had
handed over a $900 deposit in cash, with no lease, no exchange of keys, and no
receipt, to strangers with whom he had no ties other than a few moments of
pleasant conversation. He said he didn't need to sign a lease because it
imposed too much formality. The handshake and the good vibes were for him
indicators of trust more binding than a form contract. At the time I told
Peter he was mad, but his faith paid off. His sublessors showed up at the
appointed time, keys in hand, to welcome him in. There was absolutely nothing
in my experience to prepare me for such a happy ending. (In fact I remain
convinced that, even if I were of a mind to trust a lessor with this degree of
informality, ·things would not have worked out so successfully for me: many
Manhattan lessors would not have trusted a black person enough to let me in
the door in the first place, paperwork, references, and credit check
notwithstanding.) I, meanwhile, had friends who found me an apartment in a
building they owned. In my rush to show good faith and trustworthiness, I
signed a detailed, lengthily negotiated, finely printed lease firmly
establishing me as the ideal arm's-length transactor. As Peter and I discussed
our experiences, I was struck by the similarity of what each of us was
seeking, yet with such polar approaches. We both wanted to establish enduring
relationships with the people in whose houses we would be living; we both
wanted to enhance trust of ourselves and to allow whatever closeness was
possible. This similarity of desire, however, could not reconcile our very
different relations to the tonalities of law. Peter, for example, appeared to
be extremely self-conscious of his power potential (either real or imagistic)
as white or male or lawyer authority figure. He therefore seemed to go to some
lengths to overcome the wall that image might impose. The logical ways of
establishing some measure of trust between strangers were an avoidance of
power and a preference for informal processes generally. On the other hand, I
was raised to be acutely conscious of the likelihood that no matter what
degree of professional I am, people will greet and dismiss my black femaleness
as unreliable, untrustworthy, hostile, angry, powerless, irrational, and
probably destitute. 2 Futility and despair are very real parts of my response.
So it helps me to clarify boundary; to show that I can speak the language of
lease is my way of enhancing trust of me in my business affairs. As black, I
have been given by this society a strong sense of myself as already too
familiar, personal, subordinate to white people. I am still evolving from
being treated as three-fifths of a human, a subpart of the white estate."

Interesting read, pdf on Google.
[https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://...](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.dariaroithmayr.com/pdfs/assignments/Williams,%2520%2520The%2520Pain%2520of%2520Word%2520Bondage.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwi5krik7-_cAhWpq1QKHc6ZAwcQFjAAegQIBRAB&usg=AOvVaw1zYsuHMPWt-
MVGRXgyyMD6)

