It starts with the material for this semester's class: Law, Culture, and Identity. We're tackling the ways that our different cultures, groups, and individual identities change the way that we understand and interact with laws, rules, and norms. While this is my field of study, that doesn't change the fact that I'm only one person with one set of experiences, and the same goes for each student in the classroom. Between the 49 of us in there, we should be able to bring a pretty wide variety of perspectives and backgrounds to the table, but this is a situation where more and different is likely better. I wanted to give more people, from more geographic regions and walks of life, with a wider panoply of demographic backgrounds, etc., etc., a way to bring their perspectives to our classroom as well. My hope here is that the blog can be a space for conversation about law and culture between those of us who are in the classroom and those of you who are participating digitally here.
Similarly, while I have confidence in my own teaching ability, the fact that I'm only one person limits what I can think of to do in the classroom. Some of the best lessons I've ever taught were the product of collaborative brainstorming and planning with other teachers, and I don't do anyone any favors by thinking I have to come up with everything myself all the time. If others have ideas that I think are creative and pedagogically sound, I should use them when I can. To that end, I will occasionally ask on here for input on a topic, either for stories that illustrate it, materials that support it, or activities that can demonstrate it. For example, I will be giving a special Halloween lecture on the role of "the trickster" in literature as way of looking at law as a game. We'll be reading "The Devil and Daniel Webster," and Rumplestiltskin is a fun example of a "bad" character who uses convoluted contractual language to get what he wants, but there are tons of representations of the Devil and other "tricksters," and I'm about five weeks from asking you, blog readers, for your favorite examples.
The mirror image of this is that I have, off and on for a few years now, given you my thoughts on various aspects of law and society. Again, this is a field in which I am well-versed, but - with the exception of two guest posts - it's only been my thoughts driving this blog. No more. I'm enlisting my students in the quest to ask questions about the ways laws, rules, and norms guide our behavior - and how our behavior changes them. Inevitably, my students' talent, insight, and varied experiences will bring to the table perspectives that I never could have, and this blog will be a place to share them with the wider world. I think we all write better when we think our writing will be seen by a more diverse audience than simply our professors and GSIs, and I've often been frustrated over the years that I was the only one who got to see the wonderful ideas my students have had. But again - no more. Now they will have the wider audience they deserve and will hopefully be motivated by writing for it.
I'll end this explanation/manifesto by asking all of you - whether student or outside reader - to get others involved in this who you think will enjoy what we're doing. Parents, siblings, children, co-workers, friends, strangers on the subway, whomever. If you think they'll enjoy joining in the fun we're going to have doing this together, get the on the site (and have them follow @lawallover on twitter!) to get in the game. In this case, it is not only the more the merrier, but the more the more intellectually interesting. Let's get to it.
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