Joseph Wang, 2L

But let's get real - it's just a licensing exam. It is, at least in theory, no different from that exam we took to get our driver's licenses several years ago. Okay, many years ago... We took classes (or at least, I did). I also remember I practiced a lot, studied a lot, and stressfully obsessed about all of the things I'd have to face at school the next year if I didn't pass, and simultaneously dreamed about all of the great possibilities I imagined would open up if I did. But I eventually mustered the courage to take it and I passed. And I got a little card that entitles me to drive an automobile. Apparently, a bar association card will also entitle me to discounted car rentals. Prof. Croley told us that in what I assume was a well-meaning (if puzzling) diversion in Civil Procedure last year.

I've been thinking about licenses a lot lately because I'm without my car for the summer. I drive a lot in Michigan because I live a good deal off campus. In truth, it's not that far - only about five miles, but try telling yourself five miles isn't a lot when the snow's up to your waist and you're carrying forty pounds of books plus a laptop. I've been spending the summer in Anchorage, Alaska, which is a gorgeous place to live in the summertime. I'm told the winter is less than thrilling; I'm not really willing to stick around to find out. Anchorage is pretty big and really spread out. Some of that is due to the fact that they simply have the space for expansion, and some of that might be due to not wanting to tempt fate by building too high in a relatively active earthquake zone. We had one today - it was little (4.6, a bout 100 miles away), but it shook for about a minute in Anchorage. Anyway, it's tough to see Alaska without a car. Or, I'm told, a plane, as this is a state twice the size of Texas, but with a road system comparable to that of Rhode Island. I did a lot of work at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, on a note I'm writing for a journal. It's about four miles from downtown, but it's a tough ride loaded down with books. I haven't seen much of Alaska, but I've loved what I have gotten to see. I have the only urban salmon run right outside my window, along with the Port of Anchorage, the Alaska Railroad Station, and the flight path to Elmendorf Air Force Base. If I ever get distracted, I can just look out my window at the stunning activity outside. It's like the train set I always wanted as a kid. Only for real, and with cargo tankers and F-22s! That very last part will probably change soon.

I've also been thinking about licenses lately because I've challenged myself to take photos of as many out-of-state license plates as I can before I leave. I have 9 more days to find a mere six more states. If you live in Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Louisiana, Nebraska, or Vermont, own a car, and feel like a road trip, get up here and send me an email when you arrive. Sometimes you know where you can find a particular one - like the fact that my neighbor has a Washington State plate, or that there's a car from Idaho always parked on the Park Strip. Sometimes you can guess - on my way home from the gym, I usually bike through the parking lot of the Comfort Inn to see if any tourists have rolled in. And sometimes they strike you unawares while you're looking for something else. I was biking to the grocery store two days ago when a Vermont plate went rolling by. I gave chase, thinking perhaps they'd be headed to a parking lot downtown, but a guy on a bike is no match for a Ford F150, even if he was hauling a Gulfstream trailer. A little annoyed and tired (and now a bit wet, as it had started to rain), I found myself about a mile away and on the other end of downtown, but as I slowly pedaled to the store, I came across a peachy little Georgia plate. Just when I least expected it.

Similarly, I chased the job market last fall and I worked as hard as I could to catch it, but I couldn't really overtake what was already an economy in free-fall. A bit dejected, my pride a bit wounded, and dead tired, I set to work salvaging my summer when suddenly, I came across a fantastic set of jobs in the Alaskan Court System. It's been a blast - I've worked on great cases with great people and have enjoy a truly wonderful city. I've walked on glaciers and eaten fresh caught wild salmon and biked gingerly around moose. And I never would have found it without having gotten pulled a little further out of my way chasing a different job. It's been a truly fantastic summer. It's definitely not the summer I envisioned for myself at this time last year - not even close. But it has been a truly phenomenal one all the same, and I couldn't be happier with how it's turned up. I'm definitely going to come back and visit. But hopefully by then I'll have my bar association card, and renting that car won't be so expensive.