Today it finally rained. A few minutes after entering my
class on the 7th floor, I looked out the window and noticed a
downpour. The rain steadily increased until it looked like there was a river
falling from the sky. After a few minutes of this intense cloudburst, we heard
an alarm. This alarm came from someone’s phone and notified a student in my
class that there was a flash flood warning. Over the course of the next few
minutes, several other phones voiced alarms. If it weren’t for these alarms, I
probably would have drowned on the 7th floor (just kidding). For my
personal safety, I will definitely need to invest in a smartphone.
Shivering, and soaked to the bone we started going over the
court cases. Today we discussed the cases that we read over the weekend.
Although the circumstances of each case were different, they all had to do with
freedom of speech. In each case, a state had created a sketchy law, which the
defendant had violated. In each case, the Supreme Court reversed the rulings of
the appellate courts because the states had overreached their rights regarding
the freedom of speech and the 14th Amendment through the creation of
each law.
After a particularly disgusting experience in the dining
hall, we headed back to class to watch two dramatic documentaries related to
the Supreme Court. The first movie was about a man named Al Franken who
published a book criticizing the right wing conservatives of the time. The
title of the book used a slogan that Fox News deemed to be theirs. Fox sued Al
Franken and lost miserably. I’m sure it was a huge embarrassment for everyone
on the losing side. To make matters worse for Fox, all the publicity of case
boosted Franken’s book to the top of the best sellers list.
Next we watched a documentary about Daniel Ellsberg and his
release of the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War. The passion which many
of the interviewee’s told the story was captivating. I almost felt as though I
was experiencing the story in the moment! For homework, we read the subsequent Supreme
Court case that arose as a result to the Papers being released to the New York
Times. According to the Court, the press had full rights to publish the papers.
This evening I went out to see the off Broadway show Potted
Potter. It was a little too goofy for me, but I know that I would have regretted
not seeing it. When I get home, I plan to read all of the Harry Potter books
one more time!
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