Who Says You Can't Go Home?

Who says you can't go home? Not Jon Bon Jovi…not Richie Sambora…and neither of the Freitas twins. This week marked the return of most of the JD/MPH class of 2010 back to NUSL and, we have to say, it was a little bittersweet. On the bitter side, law books are expensive, NUSL professors are determined to rob all students of their lives with their gargantuan assigned readings, and the past year at Tufts was great. On the sweet side, NUSL lockers are at least 4 times larger than Tufts’, printing is free, and we got to see most of our friends from 1L.

Being back in law school is still so new to us that after reading a particularly lawerly segment in the bioethics book, I said, “hey, this is just like when I was in law school” ….and then Deb reminded me, we are back in law school!

All in all, we were relieved to see that little had changed since we had left—Cargill still alternates from 100 degrees to 30 degrees in a little over an hour, familiar 1L faculty still wave and stop to talk, administrators (?) who neither of us have ever met still say hi to us, and the microwave in the locker room still has burnt food all over it (despite the “extremely reasonable community rules”).

The transition from Tufts to NUSL wasn’t worth losing a wink of sleep over, NUSL is still NUSL. And what of the fear that everyone else would be spewing out case law like it's their second language? Not to worry, everyone else had forgotten most of the holdings from the con law, contracts, and crim cases we read first year too...but who else can say they got to know what public health practice is like? Welcome back to law school!

-C&D

Lessons learned during finals

At exactly 4:53PM on May 7, I submitted my public health economics final exam via e-mail to my professor with seven minutes to spare. My second and final semester at Tufts has officially, and sadly, come to a close. The past three weeks were chaotic as I prepared final papers and exams. To say that I have been busy does not give true insight into the work I have completed. I remember former JD/MPH students talking about their busy schedule at the end of the second semester at Tufts but all of them refused to provide details to give me a sense of what they were really doing with their time. Consequently, I will detail how I spent my time the past few weeks completing course assignments and the lessons I learned in the process.

My budgeting and management paper was on the subject of the successes and failures of a health clinic in a suburban mall. The assignment required the application of various financial calculations that we learned such as ratio analysis, variance analysis, and time value of money calculations. Additionally, we were asked to demonstrate our marketing knowledge by discussing how well the clinic maneuvered through the stages of new product development. Upon completing the paper, I was energized by the varied conclusions I was able to draw about the financial success of the clinic’s first year by completing a few calculations. I thought about the applicability of this process in a not-for-profit setting where I see myself working upon completing my graduate and professional education. Knowing how to accurately budget is only one small part of administering a program. The ability to analyze, evaluate and measure financial efficiency, however, is very useful regardless of whether you are evaluating a settlement agreement in a civil lawsuit or the performance of a public health campaign. What I appreciate about this assignment, which helped me reflect on what I can take from this course, is that budgets and numbers are the substance upon which all other work I will do is hinged. Consequently, it behooves me to remember these financial tricks for the future.

While completing my budget paper, I was simultaneously working on my hazard unit. My occupational and environmental health course did not have a final exam, per se. The course required an independent research project on an occupational and/or environmental hazard throughout the semester. I chose to research the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) piping industry because I know it is a plastic that surrounds and serves the average American on a daily basis. PVC is everywhere: in carpeting, flooring, beverage containers, shower curtains, building materials, pipes that carry drinking water, pesticides, medical equipment, and children’s toys. It also is recognized worldwide as a carcinogen. While few studies exist that have been able to fully discuss the negative human and environmental impacts of such a widespread plastic for the general population, many studies exist detailing the hazardous effects of exposure by workers who manufacture and dispose of the plastic. While researching this topic led to feelings of frustration that a toxic substance is so widely produced, I also learned of many non-toxic, similarly priced alternative materials that can be used. In case you are curious, information about alternatives to PVC are located at http://www.healthybuilding.net/. This course provided a whirlwind overview of the politics surrounding toxic work environments, unions that work to improve these environments, the decision makers that oppose spending any extra money to make workers healthier and happier, the antiquated laws that exist to protect workers and consumers, and the players’ perspectives throughout each battle. By far the course I looked forward to most, this class constantly required me to criticize the antiquated laws that protect worker and environmental health and recognize the need for progressive thinkers in these legal and political arenas.

Stepping away from papers for a moment, I want to tell you about a fun and educational final exam experience! JD/MPH students are permitted to take up to ten elective credits during their residency at Tufts. This semester, I enrolled in a four credit course called Humanitarian Studies in the Field. It is a two-part course offered through the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, a collaboration between Tufts University, Harvard University, and MIT. The first half of the course was academic in nature that provided readings on humanitarian law, international human rights law, food security, and others. The second half of the course occurred just a few weeks ago at the Harold Parker State Forest in North Andover Massachusetts. This portion simulated a humanitarian crisis which included five refugee camps in Chad, near the Sudan border region of Darfur. The weekend long experience required that I work as a food and nutrition specialist for a non-governmental organization in a team of 8 by planning a humanitarian response. My group put together a plan for providing shelter and other materials to this mock group of 100,000 refugees. The weekend was complete with mock Chadian military and child soldiers looking to distract the aid workers from the task of assessing the camps and designing an intervention plan. I even learned how to construct a trench latrine! I had a great deal of fun working on this final project and had the (dis)pleasure of eating military rations (imagine a 1200 calorie dinner in a small cardboard box). If you have an interest in international law and humanitarianism, I highly recommend this course.

If you are not completely exhausted from reading about my paper writing process, hang in there for one more description. Another final project that took a great deal of time was for my Health Communication and Behavior course. With four other students, I designed a cancer screening program that encouraged American Indian women living in Arizona to get screened for breast and cervical cancer. The project necessitated that our group submit a joint proposal to obtain a one and a half million dollar contract with the National Cancer Institute. In one month, our group struggled to agree on a programmatic approach, messaging, and budget guidelines and successfully completed a twenty page proposal. Being forced to work with other students I did not know well and to pool our creativity was a useful process. The field of public health could always use more trained grant writers and this exercise provided a good example of what skills are necessary to design a worthwhile project proposal that is (hopefully) fundable.

At the time of my writing these papers, I was not entirely sure what I would gain. However, taking a few days to reflect has provided the opportunity to discover take away lessons from each course and final assignment. I anticipate that my return to Northeastern will not provide me the opportunity to prove my latrine-building skills or my knowledge of time value of money. However, I am confident that the skills I gained in the MPH program will be applicable in law school and beyond. It is time for me to go enjoy some Chinatown culinary delights-by far the best distraction at Tufts.

Dinner Time!

So long ABP, Boloco, and Qdoba...here's the scoop on the yummiest and cheapest food in Chinatown. Prepare yourself for a culinary tour of the neighborhood:

If dim sum is your thing, the Emperor's Garden is your place. Located right on Washington Street, you'll have no trouble finding it.






Keep going down the street and you will find the place near and dear to our collective JD/MPH hearts, our old reliable Pho Pasteur. Try anything here, you won't be sorry.






Next, take the corner onto Beach Street. Located right down the street, Pho Hoa. This was the first place one of our MPH friends took us all for dinner and we have been regulars ever since.






Onward down the same street (talk about a gold mine, right!), Grand Chau Chow's. Anything seafood is the name of the game here.






Right across the street from Grand Chau Chow's is the Gourmet Dumpling House. Eat family style here and share any of the rice dishes, basil eggplant, and sesame chicken.






From here, turn onto Oxford Street (make a right) and find the Taiwan Cafe. If you have nothing else here, you MUST have the soupy dumplings...bring a bib.






Make another right and you should be on Kneeland Street, another culinary goldmine. First, King Fung Garden. Two words: Peking ravioli. Lots and lots of Peking ravioli.






If you need a quick bite, hit Wai Wai's. There are really only 4 or 5 dishes here, but just about all of them are great and come complete with your choice of soup.






OK, so its not very Asian (well, the building is sort of Asian) and its probably not the yummiest, but it is definitely cheap...so, you should know about it. So, yes, there is a McDonald's here too.






Last, but certainly not least, Montien. Mango curry is fantastic here and the inside of the restaurant is beautiful too.







Not to neglect the Harrison Avenue gems, I must mention them here. First, you encounter Dong Khanh. Try the crispy noodles here.






OK, let's talk SUPER cheap and yummy. In this category, try the Vietnamese Sandwich place for, what else, sandwiches.







For dessert, go to the place next door, the Coffee House--this place shames ABP. So, this concludes our culinary tour of Chinatown. Yes, I've probably omitted several worthy places (unintentionally, of course). Feel free to suggest places in the comments section!

A Heart of Stone

I.F. Stone, that is (you know, the journalist). Since I first walked into law school, I have been asked “why did you go to law school?” about twenty (thousand) times. Each time, I think I answered a little differently, ad-libbing what I thought the situation called for, knowing that the true reason was in me, but not really sure where to look or, after being a 1L, if I even still remembered. Well, this week, Beth Rosenberg (professor in the public health department at TUSM) reminded me. She began class by reading this piece by I.F. Stone:

“The only kinds of fights worth fighting are those you are going to lose, because somebody has to fight them and lose and lose and lose until someday, somebody who believes as you do wins. In order for somebody to win an important, major fight 100 years hence, a lot of other people have got to be willing - for the sheer fun and joy of it - to go right ahead and fight, knowing you're going to lose. You mustn't feel like a martyr. You've got to enjoy it.”

So there it was- the reason I went to law school- hidden right in the introductory remarks of a public health class. I went to law school to fight the big battles AND the small skirmishes, to make EVERY molehill into a mountain because I didn’t want to have to choose which injustice I should watch someone suffer through and which I should attempt to intervene in. I went to law school so that someday, someone could have their Brown v. Board, their Tinker v. Des Moines, and their Roe v. Wade—and I expected to have enjoyed every minute of the journey, win or lose.

Beth Rosenberg used I.F. Stone’s piece as the opener to a lecture on the importance of community advocacy (that’s right, Tufts is a big fan of the “a” word too, not just our NUSL) in not only empowering those without a voice but also encouraging those already in power to make better societal and environmental decisions. All I can say is that I guess it took a public health school (I.F. Stone and Beth Rosenberg too, of course) to remind me why I went to law school. Could you use a reminder?

The Right to Arm Bears

No, I’m not confused about the 2nd Amendment or referring to this sci-fi masterpiece of a book series. Sitting in my Occupational and Environmental Health class this week, I happened to look at the girl who was sitting directly across the room from me (I’ll come back to the seating arrangement later) and happened to see that her coffee mug said “Support Your Right to Arm Bears.”

Well, I thought this was pretty clever. The mug even had Smokey the Bear holding a Smith & Wesson. But, after thinking about it for a bit, I realized that this is what Tufts is all about. Not fueling animal hostility, of course, but promoting justice from the bottom up. Having just left law school and a judicial clerkship for co-op, I really felt like meaningful change was a thing that percolated down from the very top. After all, there is no denying how reliant we lawyers are on precedent—you know, what the courts have already decided was ok and not ok.

But Tufts takes a different road to get to meaningful change and, so far, it’s proven to be a more scenic route. Remember that handcuffed feeling that you got when no one got compensated for NIED because the witnesses weren’t family members or when some squatter got to keep someone else’s land just because the rightful owner didn’t check up on it every couple of years or when the exact language of the deed made it seem like the old lady should have gotten the house but the way the court interpreted it (ie: randomly) begged to differ? Well, that frustration is something that you will still share with your classmates here, but their experience working with community organizations may actually be kind of therapeutic. Don’t get me wrong, there are no solutions to these problems hanging off the trees on campus, just waiting to be picked. But there is a lot of experience here in community organizing and doing something WITH (not just FOR) those who are oppressed, or can’t get access to medical care, or have rats in their apartment...and that’s a little different from law school. That’s probably enough on that for now, but you get the idea. If you want more details, shoot me an email or leave a comment.

Finally, as promised, a word about the seating arrangement. Did you ever notice in law school how every class except LSSC involved having you face the professor and having your back to your colleagues? Kind of makes you feel like the only person with something important to say in class was the professor, no? Rest assured, classrooms don’t NEED to be that way. You can, in fact, pay attention to the professor and nevertheless know what your colleagues’ faces look like! Most classes here are small (think less than 25 people) and are very seminar-like. So, be prepared to speak, but without being cold-called. Oh yeah, be prepared to listen too, people are saying important things here.

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