October 7, 1996 - A Mature Point of View
by Tom DesRochers
For those of you who are new to "The Hall" this particular column is designed to provide special insights which will hopefully assist students, first year students in particular, in finding ways to cope with this place. I will make an effort to get as many articles into the Obiter as I can, and Roberta Bald has promised us that she will supplement the articles with some of her own. To those of you in the upper years who couldn't wait to get back to OZ so you could read more of Roberta's bush stories in the Obiter: take heart, she's just playing Perry Mason at CLASP for a while. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure, these articles were intended to provide useful analogies to the law-school experience. So it appears I have big (snow) shoes to fill, but you will be pleased to know that I am also from points north. (Roberta and I may actually be cousins...long story).
But alas, I have no whimsical anecdotes involving moonlit nights walking down logging roads, drilling holes in the Canadian Shield in -60 C. weather, six-foot woodpeckers, cabin fever or frozen longjohns. Most of my war stories are from events which happened SOUTH of the Nickel Belt. By way of introduction, I'm a Second Year student, ever-so-slightly-over-30, married (no kids) commuting in from the hinterland, and finding Second Year about a million times better than First Year. So you see, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. If you First Year people are feeling uneasy, frustrated and nervous to the point of panic, then the law school experience has worked it's magic on you. You're not supposed to enjoy it, because it's really some twisted form of initiation. But take heart; I got through it and so will you. You might even have a few laughs along the way.
This is actually where the Mature Students Association comes in. The beauty of this group is that many mature students in the upper years have become masters at juggling school, work, money, children, spousal and other family commitments, and they can help the newcomers out quite a bit. That said, I'm hoping that some of my time-seasoned cohorts can fire in an article from time-to-time. Hey, I can't have all the fun.
I will also try and keep everyone posted on upcoming events hosted by the mature students. These usually include the annual wine & cheese party, spouses & kids night, exam writing seminar, choose upper-year courses etc. One more matter which I should bring up: if I say anything which gets on anyone's nerves, tough noogies. You'll just have to write it off to my being a cranky old geezer. So there. Anyway, hang in there, and we'll be talking to you !