Legal Commentary

On this historic day when we are about to elect either the first African-American president or the first female vice-president, I sit at my computer about to embark on a personal first -- my first "real" blog entry. And I'll have to admit; I'm a little scared.

I'm guesting at PrawfsBlawg this month because I responded to a general call Dan issued last July inviting female law prawfs to come out and blog. His invitation came after a post questioned why women are underrepresented in the blogosphere. At the time, I was about to start my third year at Georgia and had been feeling self-imposed pressure to do some law blogging after almost every other member of our junior faculty had done so including PrawfsBlawg regulars Jason Solomon and Hillel Levin as well as others like Erica Hashimoto, Bobby Bartlett, Usha Rodrigues and Fazal Khan. This list doesn't even begin to mention all my friends at other schools doing the same. The prolificacy of my colleagues had begun to weigh on me. Clearly this was something I needed to be doing. I wasn't just failing; I was e-failing. My lack of cyber-networking meant that my name and work weren't getting out "there." Writing articles and teaching classes just isn't enough anymore, I thought, I need to be engaged on a weekly, daily or even hourly basis with the constantly changing universe that is the law. This couldn't look good to the Dean and the tenured faculty, I was sure. And what did this say about me? Where was my bursting need to opine about legal issues Internet-style?

So I decided I better jump in the deep end and give blogging a try. I was ready. The time was now. No more excuses. No more delays. Carpe Diem! And so it was that a mere two weeks later, I was introducing myself to Dan at the SEALS conference and announcing that I was ready to blog. He couldn't have been more accommodating and immediately asked what month I'd like to guest. I hesitated and, as the blistering July sun shone outside, found myself meekly answering "November." So maybe it wasn't quite "carpe diem," but nonetheless here I am three-and-a-half months later. I'll let you know how it goes . . .