I mean, obviously. We're never getting that genie back in the bottle, are we? 😳

I am very grateful to the editors of this volume for asking me to index it, and for mentioning my work on that index in this interview. It is a particular challenge to index multi-author works, and I learned a lot from this particular project.

This has been contributing to the downfall of American law for a very long time now. Lawyers are detested by the rest of society precisely because they make idiotic arguments that a 3rd grader can see through, and when they do so it furthers their careers, rather than hurting them. It's exhausting.

I apologize to the earth but I had to turn on the air conditioner last night. I grew up in inland Southern California, and I'm normally pretty tolerant of heat. But it's absolutely roasting in New England right now.

This guy, though. $1,000,000,000 apparently can't buy you humanity, kindness, or compassion.

I took this picture at Disneyland a few days ago, in the Haunted Mansion. I am posting it here because, well... Yesterday we got the news that there would be a slush fund for MAGA who had been "injured" by the government. 🙄 The #corruption has never been more blatant. It's disgusting.

Holy hell. It is also well beyond time to implement SIGNIFICANT reforms to the Supreme Court. That six unelected judges with lifetime appointments can infect the whole country with their hyper-partisan, racist politics is appalling, and it needs to end.

I'm off on a short trip to California tomorrow. I haven't been home in a while. This trip is purely for fun - visiting friends and attending my niece's baby shower. It's the first non-work (no conferences, no teaching) trip I've taken in several years. That's not a flex, but a lament. 🫤

If you're going to be a mom, be a mom like this.

Please, I am begging all of you - our first and most important priority in the 2028 election is to get out there and vote for whoever wins the Democratic primary. Our current national nightmare is really having a terrible impact on so, so many good people. We CANNOT have 4+ more years of this.

Goodness. If we must have blue, let it be this.

It's time for my annual second-Sunday-in-May message for all of you. If Mother's Day is difficult for you for any reason at all, your feelings are valid and I see you. It can be hard to watch others celebrate this day. Do what you need to take care of yourself, today and always. 💕

In hockey news, the Flyers just got swept out of the second round of the playoffs. Carolina is scary good and I kinda hope they win the Cup this year. Although they lost in the playoffs, the Flyers are still winners for having best mascot in the history of professional sports. #gritty

Rough therapy session today. My therapist said "your inner voice is so mean and such a bully to you, and that makes me very sad" several times. If you're an adult who never figured out the difference between humility and self-negation, you're not alone. I see you. Try to be kind to yourself. ❤️

Seeing the story about the Canvas hack is making me very glad I did not teach a law class this semester, and that I am only doing some light editing and indexing work using MS Word at the moment. 😳

#rant Idling trucks are the work of the devil, especially on one of the first really nice days that New Englanders have seen in months. TURN THEM OFF. Let us have our peace and quiet with the windows open.

DOGE was a fundamentally racist and sexist operation that was designed to take jobs away from and demean highly competent Black women. There should be a special place in hell for eveyone who was involved in it.

I recently started #rereading The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion and it has a much more profound effect on me than it did when I first read it years ago. I especially appreciate how she was so immersed in print media, which clearly fed her need for quiet, deliberate self-edification.

I'm thinking about courts today. I like the European system of a separate constitutional tribunal and high court, in which justices serve terms, have age limits, and are appointed on a rolling basis. If anything in our current constitutional system needs a do-over, it's probably that.

This morning the NY Times published a list of the greatest 30 living American songwriters. The comments are wild, with MULTIPLE people complaining that the list did not include Paul McCartney and Bernie Taupin. PEOPLE. That so many of us are terrible at reading comprehension will be our downfall.

Indeed. I wish the network would just cancel it already.

Wow. I am so tired of Donald Trump.

So here's a thing that has been on my mind a lot lately. I am sad because I didn't keep up with former colleagues who left places that I continued to work at. I know this is what happens because ... life, busyness, blah blah blah. It is hard to work through the loneliness of leaving a job though. 💕

Abolish the death penalty, now. www.reuters.com/world/us/jus...

I hate this and can't wait until it's over.

I planted 9 new plants in my front yard today. I am experimenting to see which ones do well - all were recommended as good for my zone (6B) and rabbit-resistant. I had to do a lot of work on the soil before I could plant them. That process felt a lot like my life over the last few years. #gardening

It's one of my favorite days of the year - Marathon Monday in #Boston! I'm watching at my desk while researching an article. The wheelchair racers are out on the course right now and they are incredibly impressive. www.wcvb.com/article/130t...

A tree in our yard (still alive, very damaged) will be taken down tomorrow. It must go before it hurts someone. It's not like losing a pet, but I keep thinking about that tree, which has given us shade for the six years we have lived in this house, and feeling sad. Is there a 🌈 bridge for trees?

LAW PROFESSOR FRIENDS: I am working on some new research that I hope to turn into an article. If you regularly read scholarly legal books, how important is it to you that a book in that category have an index? Book reviewers seem to care about this. Do you? #lawsky

I just finished my first editing job after my two-month break from doing work. It was relatively easy to get back on track, although I have to admit there are a lot of distractions in the world that are very easy to engage with when you sit in front of a computer all the time. 🫠

For my California friends who appreciate justice, here is a gubernatorial endorsement to consider.

I just ordered a lot of plants that, when they bloom, will have pink, purple, and blue flowers. I am not spending a month in Europe teaching this summer like I do every year. I am staying home and planting a garden and taking care of it instead. Quiet time at home is all I can manage right now.

EXACTLY RIGHT. We in the United States, the place the entire world has looked up to for its democratic principles all these years, must come together like the Hungarians did today. We don't have any more time to mess around with relatively small, extremely divisive issues.

While Vance was failing to negotiate a peace deal, Trump and Rubio were in Florida watching a UFC fight. THIS IS OFFFICIALLY THE STUPIDEST TIMELINE EVER. The 2028 Dem primary should be these 3 widely-electable people only: Pritzker, Shapiro, Kelly. We have to end this nonsense and get the WH back.

JD Vance had a terrible week and I just love that for him. Here's hoping he's at the top of the GOP ticket in 2028. His unique brand of ineffectiveness and unlikeability will be a gift to the Democrats that they better not squander.

OMG, just saw the NYT headline that Kamala is thinking of running again. I didn't even read the story, just jumped straight to the comments. Read the room, seriously, and DO NOT DO IT. The thought of her vs JD Vance in the 2028 election makes me want to immigrate to Germany once and for all.

Have a video of a prarie dog named Phred who is living his best life.

This is absolutely 100% the correct take on this issue.

People on LinkedIn (I know) have been sending me job opportunites to "train AI." In a way, I'm kind of tempted to follow up on one of these. The money is not bad and it's fully remote. I have been teaching legal research for more than a decade so I know what I'm doing. But it still feels WRONG.

Exactly.

Well, there has been a reprieve. I'm both relieved and appalled. How dare he scare us all like that so much! What a mean, pathetic bully the man is, punching down again and again because he can. The sooner he is out of that office, the better.

The misophonics of the world are especially unwell right now, given the current state of affairs and a general feeling of powerlessness. Whistle and sniff at your own peril, folks. #misophonia

God this poem is haunting me again.

I just called my Congressman - @repauchincloss.bsky.social. A young-sounding intern answered on the first ring.. After I asked him to please tell the Congressman to do whatever is necessary to remove Trump and stop the genocide, the silence on the other end was like a slap in the face...(1/)

The world is full of toxic workplaces, where we deal with mean girls, incompetent men, and every other kind of bully when we're just trying to get work done and enjoy this short life. These astronauts show us that another reality is possible. BE THESE KINDS OF COLLEAGUES. Care about your co-workers.

It's the Mondayest of Mondays I've had in quite a while. I'm back at my desk doing editing work after two months off. The government is...the government. Our neighbor is yelling at us about a tree on our side that his arborist said is going to fall on his house if we don't get rid of it. Ugh.

My dad is a boomer, military vet, evangelical christian, extremely conservative. I know he voted for the current president three times. He has criticized me for my progressive politics, telling me I'll grow out of it some day. Do I finally confront him, given today's disgraceful social media post?

I was going to buy flowers to plant in the eight pots that are lined up and ready on my front porch. But it is still too cold to do this in Boston right now and I am very sad. Hurry up, spring weather.

Good. Now she needs to be disbarred by the state of Florida. Then she needs to go to jail. Women who are dumb enough to support and do the bidding of Trump, one of the nation's most notorious misogynists, deserve everything they get and more.

I am learning Italian - taking lessons, doing DuoLingo, watching Netflix Italian shows, and streaming Italian radio. When I tuned in to RAI channel 1 this morning even I could tell what a blow to Italy's national identity it is that they are missing the World Cup again. #calcio