School Update

[fabfemmeboy]

First, after three years of pulling teeth to get people on board with pronouns and recognizing me as male at law school? I walk into each and everyone one of my grad classes and somehow miraculously pass as male. Hell if I get it, but I'm certainly happy about it

Comments

[loseagain]

These are all very well-known so you won't get any points for originality, but if it's blogs you need:
Daily Kos, http://www.dailykos.com/
Atrios, http://www.eschatonblog.com/
Talking Points Memo, http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/
Crooked Timber (more academic than the others), http://crookedtimber.org/
and all of those have blogrolls somewhere on the front pages that should give you fodder for the rest of the semester.

[fabfemmeboy]

Thanks. I'm not going for 'original', at this point I'm going for 'look. it's...electronic. And doesn't make me want to shoot myself.' I figure I'll make up for it with creativity on the assignment to bring in the best quote every week.

[tko_ak]

Well, at least he didn't react horribly to you tell him you were trans.

Lawyers look at things differently, and are certainly knowledgeable, but I'm not always convinced that's for the best. There's something to be said for Congress having too many lawyers. I think it can sometimes cloud other ways of looking at things. Not everything comes down to case law or precedent.

Every professor I've had who said anything about blogs did so negatively (like don't use them as a source for a peper).

I stopped reading Andrew Sullivan months ago, because he's jumped the shark. Which is too bad, because he had talent. Now I read the Volokh Conspiracy, which is done by law professors but focuses both on politics and law-related subjects (and has liberals and conservatives, but is generally libertarian). Taegan Goddard's Political Wire is decent, although he's pretty liberal and his coverage shows it. Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings is a decent liberal source. Mark Ambinder and Matt Yglesias at The Atlantic. I'm sure Politico has some blogs.

[fabfemmeboy]

I wasn't trying to say lawyers are necessarily better, it's just a different way of looking at things. A much more minute way that usually drives me crazy, actually. I have to keep remembering that I tend to come across as really arrogant when I don't mean to. Oops.

I'm irritated that all the political science people are starting to act like blogs are a valid source - not just valid, but 'cutting-edge' ways of getting actual news. Clearly these guys have never actually read blogs.

I'll have to check those out - they sound interesting. The problem is that all the crazy liberals are so conspiracy-theory-laden and don't bother to do their research on anything, and the uber-conservatives make me want to throw things.

[tko_ak]

That's why it's good to steer clear of the partisan hacks, or at least know what you're getting into.

One of the things I like about Volokh is that, while I often agree with it, I don't always. There's ideological diversity, and their contributors are academics (but also, usually easy to follow).

[anonymous]

If it doesn't have to have a national focus, The Capitol Fax Blog is excellent. It follows Illinois politics with some national entries when relevant. http://www.thecapitolfaxblog.com/