A Visit From Scarface

Furniture shopping, step one (a bed and mattress), accomplished - check. We also found a table we liked, but need to go back because the chairs that go with it weren't in stock yet. The store had just opened three weeks ago, and the supplier for the chairs had been burglarized before he delivered the chairs. The couple who ran the store said they'll call us when they're in, so . . .

I've spent the last couple days hanging around the University of Auckland, and espcially the School of Law. The university seems like a fun place, it's right in the heart of the city, across from (yet another) beautiful city park, and the food court offerings were heavily tilted towards Asian flavors. And every office I stopped in, people knew my name. I did some e-mailing with them over the summer, but I was still amazed, especially since they get a lot of international students at U of A. Anyway, it made for a nice welcome.

Yesterday, in addition to reading up on the prescribed study materials for taking NZ's equivalent to the bar exam (more on that later), I went to hear a talk by none other than Justice Antonin Scalia at the law school. Yep, J. Scarface (as Ali calls him), potentially the Most Dangerous Man In America. I had no idea what he was doing here (the Supreme Court just began a new session, right?), but later I saw signs for Lex Mundi events in town. The audience was very appreciative (it probably helped there'd been a BBQ on the law school lawn at lunch time, and it was clear that a LOT of beer had been consumed), and seemed to be eating out of his hand. Until an older prof started asking some pointed questions that made clear just where Scarface's philosophy leads (e.g., Brown v. Bd of Education would never have got a hearing if Scarface were Chief Justice). You could almost hear their very pc kiwi brains exploding.

At least I like to think they were exploding. How can anyone listen to him and not?

Cheers,
Sandie