I started to write another blog about the desperate need for health care reform in this country. We are at the edge of a huge success. It is disappointing but not surprising to see political leaders from both sides of the aisle attempting to slow down and/or block President Obama's efforts to bring help to the everyday American. Those politicians who stand in opposition are not listening to the results of the vote back in November 2008. They are instead listening to the insurance companies and big money interests who wield an unbalanced portion of the power in Washington. Change is needed now. Health care in America is a patient suffering a terrible disease. Please, Congress, try something, anything, to cure the patient. Do not lecture about what methods are inappropriate, what constitutes "socialism" and what should have been done before. We've been debating for years as the situation just gets worse. . . Move!
But this blog is about law school, and I feel too tired to keep going on about health care. I will refer you to two blogs that I have written about it in the past:
http://nathanmarshburn.blogspot.com/search/label/Health%20Care
http://wcugradstudentblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/open-letter-to-candidates.html
This fight is for the professionals, but President Obama has my 100% support in his push to bring health insurance to all Americans.
Now, as for law school, I begin my own personal push to find a job. The second year of law school is when most of the large firms do their hiring of new associates. They hire second year students to work during the summer in between the second and third year, grooming the student to come to the firm full-time upon graduation.
In my entry just before this one, I wrote what other lawyers had told me about working at these large firms. Theirs is a cautionary tale.
Still, I am going to go for it in the fall "On Campus Interview Program." I do not want to graduate from law school and wonder, "What if" I had applied to work with the huge firms? Would I have been hired? What would my life be like? Would I have enjoyed that lifestyle? To paraphrase Maxine from the movie Being John Malkovich, there are two types of people in this world: Those who go after what they want, and those who don't. Even if the former don't reach their goals, they are happier people. They die with less regrets.
My grades do not place me in the top 20% of the class, so I don't qualify to apply for many of the postings. Still, there are a number of openings which say, "Top 10% preferred," or "Top 20% preferred." To these I will submit my resume.
If I am invited to an interview, this will be another aspect of law school that I may tell you about- "The Powerhouse Firm Job Interview." But if not, there will still be plenty of things to keep me busy and write about during my second year of law school. Until Next Time...
Go Obama Go! Universal Health Care Now!
Nathan Marshburn
Monday, July 20, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
The Superhumans
As many hours as I put in at the firm, it is still not the intense experience a summer clerkship or one's first job out of law school may provide. The atmosphere at my firm is considerably more laid back than in the largest firms in places like New York City or Atlanta. I make this claim based on talking with a couple of lawyers whom I met over the past few weeks.
About three weeks ago, the partners took me to lunch at a nice seafood restaurant in Tallahassee. One of their guests at the lunch was a law professor from a school in Texas. I sat across from her and had the opportunity to ask her many questions. She earned a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, and her first job out of law school was with a large firm on Wall Street.
"Ah. How long did you work with them?" I asked.
She gave me a wry smile. "A year."
"Why? Why didn't you like it?"
"I really didn't know what I was getting into when they gave me a tour of the firm," she said.
The person giving her the tour showed her where the couches were, and then showed her the showers.
And she was thinking to herself, "Why are there showers in a law firm?"
She soon found out. She told me that it was not uncommon for her to work until 3 am. The partners gave her huge assignments that would be due on days like July 3rd or December 24th, so she never received a long enough break to see her friends and family during the holidays. The partners were impossible to please. Some were micromanagers who wanted you to check everything with them, other partners wanted you to leave them alone and make all the decisions yourself.
"And good luck if you wanted to get married and have children," she said.
She told me that someone would have to use cocaine to keep functioning in that system. I started laughing, but she said she was not joking.
So, she decided to quit the firm and become a law professor. . .
I met another lawyer in New Orleans during the Essence Music Festival. She worked at a large firm in Atlanta. I could tell that she was highly intelligent. She graduated from high school when she was 15, then finished college in three years before attending Florida State Law. Now 30, she has been a lawyer for several years.
"I've decided that the profession of law is mainly for men," she told me frankly. "It's kind of an unspoken proposition to a female in the field that you have to choose between having a family and dedicating yourself to the firm. It's really difficult to do both."
She talked about the long hours she put in at the firm in Atlanta. There are women who are partners at the firm, she said, "But when I see how they live, I don't want their lives."
So, she has recently quit the firm and has decided to go to medical school. . .
As for me, I'm not sure that I could survive in such an environment, either. I'm adjusting to the long hours at my firm this summer, but it is still not the hours these two women told me about. And I imagine they were expected to churn out more work products and in a shorter amount of time than what is expected of me. So far at least, my firm has not pressured me with deadlines that seem impossible to meet.
At Florida State, I've met people who can survive and thrive at the large firms where these two ladies worked. I call them superhumans, because they are incredibly intelligent and have an equally incredible work ethic to match. I had not met people like them until I came to Florida State. The amount of information that they can process and what they can churn out in such a short amount of time really amazes me. They are usually on the law review, involved in many other time consuming activities, and are at the top of their class in grades. One friend of mine whom I think fits this superhuman status told me, "I'm glad that I'm married. My wife reminds me to eat and sleep regularly."
If you are a student at an Ivy League law school, these huge firms will come looking for you. They will come to Florida State in the fall as well in something called the "On Campus Interview Program" or "OCI" for short. To get into most of the OCI interviews, though, you need to be in the top 10%, or perhaps the top 20% of your class.
Like I've said before, law school and the practice of law is extremely competitive. It is not for everyone. But I am happy to be here and happy to be in the competition.
Today is Sunday. I have to go into work in about an hour. I also put in about five and a half hours yesterday, Saturday. If I was at a Wall Street firm, however, I doubt that I would have had time to write this blog entry.
Universal Heath Care Now,
Nathan Marshburn
About three weeks ago, the partners took me to lunch at a nice seafood restaurant in Tallahassee. One of their guests at the lunch was a law professor from a school in Texas. I sat across from her and had the opportunity to ask her many questions. She earned a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, and her first job out of law school was with a large firm on Wall Street.
"Ah. How long did you work with them?" I asked.
She gave me a wry smile. "A year."
"Why? Why didn't you like it?"
"I really didn't know what I was getting into when they gave me a tour of the firm," she said.
The person giving her the tour showed her where the couches were, and then showed her the showers.
And she was thinking to herself, "Why are there showers in a law firm?"
She soon found out. She told me that it was not uncommon for her to work until 3 am. The partners gave her huge assignments that would be due on days like July 3rd or December 24th, so she never received a long enough break to see her friends and family during the holidays. The partners were impossible to please. Some were micromanagers who wanted you to check everything with them, other partners wanted you to leave them alone and make all the decisions yourself.
"And good luck if you wanted to get married and have children," she said.
She told me that someone would have to use cocaine to keep functioning in that system. I started laughing, but she said she was not joking.
So, she decided to quit the firm and become a law professor. . .
I met another lawyer in New Orleans during the Essence Music Festival. She worked at a large firm in Atlanta. I could tell that she was highly intelligent. She graduated from high school when she was 15, then finished college in three years before attending Florida State Law. Now 30, she has been a lawyer for several years.
"I've decided that the profession of law is mainly for men," she told me frankly. "It's kind of an unspoken proposition to a female in the field that you have to choose between having a family and dedicating yourself to the firm. It's really difficult to do both."
She talked about the long hours she put in at the firm in Atlanta. There are women who are partners at the firm, she said, "But when I see how they live, I don't want their lives."
So, she has recently quit the firm and has decided to go to medical school. . .
As for me, I'm not sure that I could survive in such an environment, either. I'm adjusting to the long hours at my firm this summer, but it is still not the hours these two women told me about. And I imagine they were expected to churn out more work products and in a shorter amount of time than what is expected of me. So far at least, my firm has not pressured me with deadlines that seem impossible to meet.
At Florida State, I've met people who can survive and thrive at the large firms where these two ladies worked. I call them superhumans, because they are incredibly intelligent and have an equally incredible work ethic to match. I had not met people like them until I came to Florida State. The amount of information that they can process and what they can churn out in such a short amount of time really amazes me. They are usually on the law review, involved in many other time consuming activities, and are at the top of their class in grades. One friend of mine whom I think fits this superhuman status told me, "I'm glad that I'm married. My wife reminds me to eat and sleep regularly."
If you are a student at an Ivy League law school, these huge firms will come looking for you. They will come to Florida State in the fall as well in something called the "On Campus Interview Program" or "OCI" for short. To get into most of the OCI interviews, though, you need to be in the top 10%, or perhaps the top 20% of your class.
Like I've said before, law school and the practice of law is extremely competitive. It is not for everyone. But I am happy to be here and happy to be in the competition.
Today is Sunday. I have to go into work in about an hour. I also put in about five and a half hours yesterday, Saturday. If I was at a Wall Street firm, however, I doubt that I would have had time to write this blog entry.
Universal Heath Care Now,
Nathan Marshburn
Monday, July 6, 2009
New Orleans
I just got back from my first ever visit to New Orleans.
For the Fourth of July weekend, the firm hosted a cookout in that city as part of the Essence Music Festival celebration.
Most of the staff of the firm stayed in a nice house on Tchoupitoulas Street, about a five or ten minute drive from Bourbon Street. Tchoupitoulas Street borders the Mississippi River, and I could see the ships at the loading docks and the huge cranes around them.
One of the places that I visited was the 9th Ward- the hardest hit area by Katrina, though it was evident that the whole city was hard hit by that storm. The 9th Ward felt eerie. As we drove through, I could imagine what it must have been like before Katrina. There were lots of nice houses, the weather felt great, and I'm sure people spent a lot of time outside socializing with each other.
Now, most of the houses are abandoned. Many appear not to have been touched since the storm, as litter and debris remains strewn across their yards. The most eerie aspect was seeing the dates spray painted on the houses. After Katrina, crews went through checking the homes for bodies. When they checked a house, they marked it with an X and the date. About one in three or four houses still has that mark. I saw "9/13 X," "9/25 X," "10/1 X", etc. haphazardly spray painted in orange on the walls.
I also spent quite a bit of time on Bourbon Street. On the morning of July 5th, at about 2:30 am, I was walking down Bourbon Street with thousands of others. Just ahead of me, I heard the "Pop! Pop! Pop!" of gun fire. It was a unique sensation and sight to see hundreds of people suddenly turn toward me and begin running. My initial fear was not of being shot, but of being trampled. I darted sideways and leaped up on a windowsill of one of the clubs. Leaning back against the glass as far as I could, I watched as hundreds of people ran past me. It also interested me to see a police officer across the street just casually watching all of this from the entrance to a restaurant. Eventually, people stopped running. I peaked around the corner of the window and hopped down. Police officers on horseback slowly made their way up the street toward the site of the shooting. I headed in the other direction and caught a cab back to the house.
I like New Orleans. It is a city that I want to visit again. After spending three days and nights there (without much sleep), my impression is that this is a city with soul, a city whose main inhabitants are unapologetically poor, but who know how to have fun and enjoy life. They sit in the streets and on their porches as the sun goes down, laughing and talking. Many of the buildings here looked old and dilapidated, but not run down. They teem with life.
But Katrina continues to have this city reeling. The French Quarter and Bourbon Street will stay a thriving force due to tourism, the incredible architecture, restaurants, hotels, clubs, and its reputation as a place to have fun. And New Orleans will continue to exist because of its location as a port city for the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. But driving along the levy wall in the 9th Ward, I felt that this place is not safe. The 9th Ward and the city remain a "soup bowl" below sea level, just waiting for another strong storm to come in a wipe it out again.
As one cab driver told me, "Everyone here now lives off of Uncle FEMA." Indeed, I saw the FEMA trailers clustered together in the 9th Ward. Another cab driver, a native to New Orleans, had an interesting perspective on Katrina and New Orleans. "When they blew the levies," he said, "they made it so the French Quarter stayed dry and the poor people got flooded."
I hope New Orleans can recover. I would have loved to see the city before Katrina. Bringing it all back is a problem, though. Restoring New Orleans is taking and will take massive amounts of money. And it is all so fragile. . . At least the river, the gulf, and Lake Pontchartrain were all beautiful and calm during my days there.
Universal Health Care Now,
Nathan Marshburn
For the Fourth of July weekend, the firm hosted a cookout in that city as part of the Essence Music Festival celebration.
Most of the staff of the firm stayed in a nice house on Tchoupitoulas Street, about a five or ten minute drive from Bourbon Street. Tchoupitoulas Street borders the Mississippi River, and I could see the ships at the loading docks and the huge cranes around them.
One of the places that I visited was the 9th Ward- the hardest hit area by Katrina, though it was evident that the whole city was hard hit by that storm. The 9th Ward felt eerie. As we drove through, I could imagine what it must have been like before Katrina. There were lots of nice houses, the weather felt great, and I'm sure people spent a lot of time outside socializing with each other.
Now, most of the houses are abandoned. Many appear not to have been touched since the storm, as litter and debris remains strewn across their yards. The most eerie aspect was seeing the dates spray painted on the houses. After Katrina, crews went through checking the homes for bodies. When they checked a house, they marked it with an X and the date. About one in three or four houses still has that mark. I saw "9/13 X," "9/25 X," "10/1 X", etc. haphazardly spray painted in orange on the walls.
I also spent quite a bit of time on Bourbon Street. On the morning of July 5th, at about 2:30 am, I was walking down Bourbon Street with thousands of others. Just ahead of me, I heard the "Pop! Pop! Pop!" of gun fire. It was a unique sensation and sight to see hundreds of people suddenly turn toward me and begin running. My initial fear was not of being shot, but of being trampled. I darted sideways and leaped up on a windowsill of one of the clubs. Leaning back against the glass as far as I could, I watched as hundreds of people ran past me. It also interested me to see a police officer across the street just casually watching all of this from the entrance to a restaurant. Eventually, people stopped running. I peaked around the corner of the window and hopped down. Police officers on horseback slowly made their way up the street toward the site of the shooting. I headed in the other direction and caught a cab back to the house.
I like New Orleans. It is a city that I want to visit again. After spending three days and nights there (without much sleep), my impression is that this is a city with soul, a city whose main inhabitants are unapologetically poor, but who know how to have fun and enjoy life. They sit in the streets and on their porches as the sun goes down, laughing and talking. Many of the buildings here looked old and dilapidated, but not run down. They teem with life.
But Katrina continues to have this city reeling. The French Quarter and Bourbon Street will stay a thriving force due to tourism, the incredible architecture, restaurants, hotels, clubs, and its reputation as a place to have fun. And New Orleans will continue to exist because of its location as a port city for the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. But driving along the levy wall in the 9th Ward, I felt that this place is not safe. The 9th Ward and the city remain a "soup bowl" below sea level, just waiting for another strong storm to come in a wipe it out again.
As one cab driver told me, "Everyone here now lives off of Uncle FEMA." Indeed, I saw the FEMA trailers clustered together in the 9th Ward. Another cab driver, a native to New Orleans, had an interesting perspective on Katrina and New Orleans. "When they blew the levies," he said, "they made it so the French Quarter stayed dry and the poor people got flooded."
I hope New Orleans can recover. I would have loved to see the city before Katrina. Bringing it all back is a problem, though. Restoring New Orleans is taking and will take massive amounts of money. And it is all so fragile. . . At least the river, the gulf, and Lake Pontchartrain were all beautiful and calm during my days there.
Universal Health Care Now,
Nathan Marshburn
Saturday, June 27, 2009
In the Groove
Like a distance runner gradually building up stamina, I'm beginning to get used to the long hours at the firm. Friday, they let me go at 6:30 pm and it felt a little weird- like I didn't know what to do with myself. As long as I get time to go for my jogs, have two meals a day where I'm not rushed to eat, have an hour after work to just unwind, and then get about 7 hours sleep, I'm good to keep going. Some days at the firm, it's pushing my time to have all of that. But most days, I can pull it off on schedule and stay in the groove. The most stress comes when I have an extra personal errand that has to be done during the day. It can throw off my whole schedule. Such details of life are inevitable, though, and I'm trying to get better at dealing with that stress when the situation arises.
Some reading this blog entry might think that this is not the life for them. They may be right. It is not easy. Spending time with a family would be challenging on this schedule. You just have to evaluate what you want out of life and what your value system is.
As for me, I like where I am at and the work that I am doing. The partners, attorneys and staff have all been very generous and supportive. I want to do good work for them and make a legitimate contribution to the firm's success. The founding partner, Mr. Crump, did me a tremendous favor by reaching out and hiring me for the summer. This is a great opportunity. I'm just trying to show my appreciation and that he did not make a mistake in bringing me on board.
When I tell other law school students where I am at and what I am doing for the summer, you can see the wheels turning in their heads and the jealousy in their eyes. They would trade places with me in a second. This firm has a great reputation in the community, and the people here work hard and play hard. I'm in a good place.
Universal Health Care Now,
Nathan Marshburn
Some reading this blog entry might think that this is not the life for them. They may be right. It is not easy. Spending time with a family would be challenging on this schedule. You just have to evaluate what you want out of life and what your value system is.
As for me, I like where I am at and the work that I am doing. The partners, attorneys and staff have all been very generous and supportive. I want to do good work for them and make a legitimate contribution to the firm's success. The founding partner, Mr. Crump, did me a tremendous favor by reaching out and hiring me for the summer. This is a great opportunity. I'm just trying to show my appreciation and that he did not make a mistake in bringing me on board.
When I tell other law school students where I am at and what I am doing for the summer, you can see the wheels turning in their heads and the jealousy in their eyes. They would trade places with me in a second. This firm has a great reputation in the community, and the people here work hard and play hard. I'm in a good place.
Universal Health Care Now,
Nathan Marshburn
Friday, June 19, 2009
8 O'Clock Shadow
This week, I started my clerkship at Parks & Crump law firm. Mr. Crump told me that it was going to be "Baptism by Fire," and he wasn't joking. The amount of hours that I am working has escalated significantly compared to the job I just finished as a mentor in the Summer for Undergraduates Program. Now, I get into work between 8 and 8:30 am, and usually don't leave until after 8 and 9 pm. I'll be doing some research for the firm this weekend as well.
I'm not complaining. Mr. Crump was very gracious to give me this opportunity. Most students in between their first and second year of law school right now do not have paid clerkships. And there are many students who are in between their second and third year of school (and even some that have graduated) who do not have paid employment and would gladly trade places with me.
Parks & Crump is giving me the chance to learn a lot about tort law and the operation of a plaintiff's law firm. It is a model that I want to understand very well. This firm was established in 1995 by two graduates of Florida State Law. They didn't have much money to begin a firm, but Parks & Crump's steady climb to become one of the most successful personal injury firms in Florida is truly remarkable. So I'm doing my best to imitate a sponge and soak in everything I see and hear. Working long hours is just an understood necessity for success.
After 8 pm one night earlier this week, I went to the office bathroom to wash my hands and face. I was dressed in a full suit. As I wiped my face with a paper towel and looked in the mirror, I thought, "Man, I need to shave."
In fact, I had shaved that morning before coming to work. I'd never had a problem with 5 o'clock shadow- but I guess 8 o'clock is a different story.
I suppose my facial hair has been growing like this for a while, but it is the first time in my life that I noted it. A quote from Hyman Roth in The Godfather, Part II also flashed through my mind as I looked at myself in the mirror and realized I had been at the office and in a suit for over 12 hours straight... "This is the business we've chosen."
But I'm not working any more than what the partners of the firm did and do. And I've seen the alternatives. There were times in my life when I was carrying mail for 12 hours a day in Washington, DC. Office work is a piece of cake compared to that, and I'm lucky and happy to be at Parks & Crump employed as a law clerk.
Universal Health Care Now,
Nathan Marshburn
I'm not complaining. Mr. Crump was very gracious to give me this opportunity. Most students in between their first and second year of law school right now do not have paid clerkships. And there are many students who are in between their second and third year of school (and even some that have graduated) who do not have paid employment and would gladly trade places with me.
Parks & Crump is giving me the chance to learn a lot about tort law and the operation of a plaintiff's law firm. It is a model that I want to understand very well. This firm was established in 1995 by two graduates of Florida State Law. They didn't have much money to begin a firm, but Parks & Crump's steady climb to become one of the most successful personal injury firms in Florida is truly remarkable. So I'm doing my best to imitate a sponge and soak in everything I see and hear. Working long hours is just an understood necessity for success.
After 8 pm one night earlier this week, I went to the office bathroom to wash my hands and face. I was dressed in a full suit. As I wiped my face with a paper towel and looked in the mirror, I thought, "Man, I need to shave."
In fact, I had shaved that morning before coming to work. I'd never had a problem with 5 o'clock shadow- but I guess 8 o'clock is a different story.
I suppose my facial hair has been growing like this for a while, but it is the first time in my life that I noted it. A quote from Hyman Roth in The Godfather, Part II also flashed through my mind as I looked at myself in the mirror and realized I had been at the office and in a suit for over 12 hours straight... "This is the business we've chosen."
But I'm not working any more than what the partners of the firm did and do. And I've seen the alternatives. There were times in my life when I was carrying mail for 12 hours a day in Washington, DC. Office work is a piece of cake compared to that, and I'm lucky and happy to be at Parks & Crump employed as a law clerk.
Universal Health Care Now,
Nathan Marshburn
Friday, June 12, 2009
The Summer for Undergraduates Program
I write this entry for my 61 new friends who just finished the Summer for Undergraduates Program.
It was great to meet you, and I was impressed with how smart you are, your positive attitudes, and how curious you are about law school and life in general.
This month flew by, and my role as your mentor was one of the best and easiest jobs that I've ever had. You guys made my job easy. I enjoyed being around you, and I hope you can say that the stories of my experiences were useful to you. I also hope that after this program you learned a lot about where you want to go in life- be it law school or not.
If I can ever be of any assistance to you, just let me know. College is often the best years of a person's life. While I wish you all great futures of even more happiness, take time to enjoy how things are now. You made many friends at this law camp. You did things the right way. Remember what made you happy and successful here, and keep living your life that way.
Best Wishes,
Nathan Marshburn
It was great to meet you, and I was impressed with how smart you are, your positive attitudes, and how curious you are about law school and life in general.
This month flew by, and my role as your mentor was one of the best and easiest jobs that I've ever had. You guys made my job easy. I enjoyed being around you, and I hope you can say that the stories of my experiences were useful to you. I also hope that after this program you learned a lot about where you want to go in life- be it law school or not.
If I can ever be of any assistance to you, just let me know. College is often the best years of a person's life. While I wish you all great futures of even more happiness, take time to enjoy how things are now. You made many friends at this law camp. You did things the right way. Remember what made you happy and successful here, and keep living your life that way.
Best Wishes,
Nathan Marshburn
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Tallahassee Sunsets
As I get older, I've learned that one of the secrets to happiness, or at least to my own personal happiness, is to stay busy.
Now that school is out for the summer, I'm not studying and working all the time. That will change on June 15th, when I begin working for a wrongful death firm. But until then, I find that most of my evenings are free.
About five times during this past week, I had the chance to go for an early evening run. After I finished the jogs, I decided to stay busy by hopping on my bike and riding for an hour or so until the sun set.
I go for bike rides in Innovation Park. The Park contains various buildings dedicated to industrial and technological pursuits, such as the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and the FSU/FAMU School of Engineering. Innovation Park is where I ride my bike because there are many open spaces of woods or fields (the FSU golf course flanks one side of the park). Each day, I stopped somewhere to watch the fabulous pinks, purples, oranges and yellows that colored the clouds as the sun went down.
The other things in nature that I come across on my bike rides are also fascinating. One day I saw a red fox lying in the grass, watching me with curiosity. It kept sitting up and laying back down, trying to decide if it should run away. Another day, I saw a fox (perhaps the same one) trot rapidly away from me as I rounded a curve and spotted her. The fox carried one of her pups in her mouth as she slinked away into the woods.
Twice, a red shouldered hawk has flown over me as I rode. The first time, the hawk had a small snake in its talons. The second time, it looked like it had a mouse.
I also startled a Great Blue Heron standing in a creek. It flapped its large wings and took off deeper into the woods.
As the day ends and the sky turns from bright blue to darker shades and then black, bats come out. They curve toward me and then away from me very fast, relying on their built-in sonar. Thousands of frogs start chirping away right as the sun disappears, too.
When the sun goes down, I decide to head back to my apartment. The last half mile is all down hill and I don't have to pedal. I can get up some nice speed, and the evening air hitting my face and hair is one of the best sensations on earth. It brings back memories of summer rides when I was a boy. Freedom.
One night as I finished a run, I heard what sounded like a insane human, laughing at me from up in a tree. I quickly deduced that it was an owl... The owls are great, here, too. I can hear them often at night when I'm lying in bed... Shortly after the laughing stopped, out of the corner of my eye I caught three large owls, one right behind the other like fighter planes in tight formation, swooping across the parking lot and then disappearing into darkness. The only noise they made was the slightest rustling of wind- a noise that I would not have noticed had I not turned my head to look right at them. I'm not sure what kind of owls they were, but their undersides were white.
If the weather is good, I'll go for another bike ride today. It is a great way to spend an hour around sunset in Tallahassee.
Universal Health Care Now,
Nathan Marshburn
Now that school is out for the summer, I'm not studying and working all the time. That will change on June 15th, when I begin working for a wrongful death firm. But until then, I find that most of my evenings are free.
About five times during this past week, I had the chance to go for an early evening run. After I finished the jogs, I decided to stay busy by hopping on my bike and riding for an hour or so until the sun set.
I go for bike rides in Innovation Park. The Park contains various buildings dedicated to industrial and technological pursuits, such as the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and the FSU/FAMU School of Engineering. Innovation Park is where I ride my bike because there are many open spaces of woods or fields (the FSU golf course flanks one side of the park). Each day, I stopped somewhere to watch the fabulous pinks, purples, oranges and yellows that colored the clouds as the sun went down.
The other things in nature that I come across on my bike rides are also fascinating. One day I saw a red fox lying in the grass, watching me with curiosity. It kept sitting up and laying back down, trying to decide if it should run away. Another day, I saw a fox (perhaps the same one) trot rapidly away from me as I rounded a curve and spotted her. The fox carried one of her pups in her mouth as she slinked away into the woods.
Twice, a red shouldered hawk has flown over me as I rode. The first time, the hawk had a small snake in its talons. The second time, it looked like it had a mouse.
I also startled a Great Blue Heron standing in a creek. It flapped its large wings and took off deeper into the woods.
As the day ends and the sky turns from bright blue to darker shades and then black, bats come out. They curve toward me and then away from me very fast, relying on their built-in sonar. Thousands of frogs start chirping away right as the sun disappears, too.
When the sun goes down, I decide to head back to my apartment. The last half mile is all down hill and I don't have to pedal. I can get up some nice speed, and the evening air hitting my face and hair is one of the best sensations on earth. It brings back memories of summer rides when I was a boy. Freedom.
One night as I finished a run, I heard what sounded like a insane human, laughing at me from up in a tree. I quickly deduced that it was an owl... The owls are great, here, too. I can hear them often at night when I'm lying in bed... Shortly after the laughing stopped, out of the corner of my eye I caught three large owls, one right behind the other like fighter planes in tight formation, swooping across the parking lot and then disappearing into darkness. The only noise they made was the slightest rustling of wind- a noise that I would not have noticed had I not turned my head to look right at them. I'm not sure what kind of owls they were, but their undersides were white.
If the weather is good, I'll go for another bike ride today. It is a great way to spend an hour around sunset in Tallahassee.
Universal Health Care Now,
Nathan Marshburn
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