I am so glad this week is over. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were brutally long days in which I really didn't have that much free time -- just enough to go home, eat, and read for the next day's classes. Not even time to exercise. Thursday was just normally long. And Friday.. well.. my opinion about getting out of class at 10 am still hasn't changed.

Speaking of exercise though, the Taper Center gym has implemented a system that reads our student ID cards to allow access. Yesterday evening I went to work out with Joel there and we discovered that it really works, and it's one heck of a system. He tried to activate the door with his card several times and it refused to acknowledge him, so I opened the door with mine. Less than fifteen minutes later, two staff members from the Law School's Facilities department busted in to the gym to ask why one "Joel Hernandez" had unauthorizedly tried to gain access. That's hands down the most responsive security I've ever seen.

This weekend is Alumni Weekend not only for the Law School, but for the rest of campus. There is an unsual bustle of activity all around, and a good deal of older white people wandering around (I guess those are the alumni). On the field right opposite of Crothers Hall, for example, a huge tent has been set up for the Stanford Class of 1984 Reunion Gala. It is also a really big event at the law school, as well.

Today I attended two Alumni Weekend events -- a small, intimate gathering for minority alumni and students, and a talk on the ramifications of Brown v. Board of Education. The first one was pretty interesting, although i didn't get to talk to as many people as I would have liked. I did meet a California federal district judge, the Honorable James S. Otero, who just happens to be the dad of a guy I went to high school with. The also introduced the leaders of various minority alumni associations such as the Latino, Black and Asian Law Alumni Assn.'s. Interestingly, these associations are a very recent phenomenon, within the past five years. I think it reflects the only recent introduction of racial diversity to the school -- nearly all the older alumni who showed up today were white, and nearly all the alumni who showed up to the gathering today were under 50.

That being said, I actually do feel like a "minority" at Stanford -- there are not that many Asians here. The law student body is very diverse in other ways however, in terms of geographic regions of origin and intellectual and work backgrounds. Perhaps this is a side result of the fact that most parts of America simply aren't that ethnically diverse. In any case, it is a far cry from UCLA, where I could go through my entire day dealing only with people who were Asian or white.

Today I got labeled with a racial insult when i was standing on a street in Beverly Hills. I was at work and trying to save a space of street parking for one of Sarah's clients (okay, her masseuse) who was coming to visit our office, and this really rude Middle Eastern lady in a gigantic Landcruiser drove up and started shouting at me because she wanted the space. "You're not in China any more!" she screamed at me.
I always hear these incidents of racial slurs or whatever, but until you actually are on the receiving end of cultural insensitvity.. let's just say it stung and I didn't expect it to. Especially from someone who herself could be considered a "minority."
The masseuse lady had witnessed the incident and was very upset, as were the partners in my firm. As a consolation prize, I received twenty minutes in a massage chair, at no cost! (to me, at least.)
Anyhow, I'm leavin' early on my trip tomorrow to Boalt Hall and Stanford Law. I've been looking forward to this trip for a long time.