Author: Charlene Ochogo

A tale of intersectionality, or that one summer where Nicki Minaj was right about a lot of things

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I don’t consider pop artists to be role models, because, really, that’s not their job. Their job is to create music or act or…whatever it is Kim Kardashian does, and rarely do we care what they think about social justice issues.

So color me surprised when this summer I realized that Nicki Minaj’s social media skirmish was actually doing an awesome job of illustrating an issue most people don’t even really think about: intersectionality.

Before we get started to the juicy celebrity drama, let’s get some definitions out of the way. Quite simply, intersectionality is the study of how different forms of discrimination intersect. And a feminist is a person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes. Easy, right?

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Things I Wish I Knew, Vol. 13: Things I hope you’ve learned

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Dear 1Ls,

First of all, how exciting is it that I can officially call you that? For so long, you were all “incoming 1Ls” or “almost 1Ls” or “soon-to-be 1Ls” and you finally made it! Tomorrow is the first day of your legal career (holy cow!) and I for one cannot thank you enough for letting me and every one of our talented BC Law Impact contributors be a part of your journey up to this moment.

I think I speak for all our contributors when I say that when we first started writing for the blog, we figured we would reach a couple dozen people — probably our friends and family who would click the links to humor us. But you truly have overwhelmed us, and certainly me, in the positive feedback for this pilot project. I cannot tell you how amazing it is to meet you all in person and to hear you say that you read one of my posts and how it helped you in such and such a way.

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Things I Wish I Knew, Vol. 12: Networking 101 – They can totally tell you just came for the food

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(Let me preface this post by mentioning that I like food. A lot.)

So I figured I would post this now because, believe it or not, some of you have your first networking events looming on the immediate horizon. (Hint hint: orientation.) And I know many of you are probably a little nervous about diving in headfirst into the networking pool, so allow me to provide you some water wings:

The food is a trap.

Well, not entirely. You see, whenever you go to a networking event, you’ll see delightful, delicious, and most importantly, free  food laid out all ready to be eaten.

The spread at a BC Law Admitted Students reception

The spread at a BC Law Admitted Students reception

We college students are adept at eating anything that doesn’t run away from us, so the temptation is almost unwieldily at times. But you must resist! I don’t know why these employers torture us with food we can’t possibly eat in a polite way, but I know that you too will be faced with your culinary kryptonite (for me, it was spare ribs), and have to just say no. Continue reading →

Things I Wish I Knew, Vol. 11: Networking 101 – So what do I call them, exactly?

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Dear incoming 1Ls,

It’s been a while since my last segment of TIWIK, and that’s primarily because I wanted to find a topic that would be most useful to you in the next month or so while you’re getting ready for orientation and school to start. (15 days! Whoo!) So I got to thinking and I remembered that my first year almost exactly a year ago, the first month was filled with what I soon came to regard as a four-letter word: networking.

If you’re anything like me, networking will be a totally foreign concept to you, and you really will feel out of your league for a little while. What is supposed to come from this?, you’ll ask yourself. What is the purpose of this except to make me feel awkward and have to stand in heels for two straight hours?

Fear not, friends. Because for the next few weeks, I will be doing a series on the do’s and don’ts of networking that will make you feel at least marginally better about putting yourself out there.

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Things I Wish I Knew, Vol. 10: How to not be homeless before Sept. 1

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Greetings almost-1Ls!

So, by now you’ve probably done the math: orientation is August 20th, school starts on the 24th, and many of the leases for apartments you’ve been looking into start on September 1st.

Ruh-roh.

This is a sad reality about Boston (that most leases do start on September 1st), but the good news is that you will only be in this dilemma once in your law school career. I polled some of our rising 2Ls to see what they did for that week and boiled it down to a few options:

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Things I Wish I Knew, Vol. 9: Law school doesn’t teach you how to be a lawyer, and that’s kind of okay

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It defies our concepts of professional school, right?

Dentistry school: learn how to make people’s teeth healthy. Physical therapy school: help people regain lost movement. Electrician school, beauty school, you name it – all pretty much teach you everything you need to know to accomplish the job you’ll have after graduation.

Law school is the odd man out. Even attorneys I know who took classes in the area of law they now practice say that they learned most of how to do their job after they got it. That’s why I when someone asks me what type of law I want to practice, I always want to reply, “Well, I don’t think I know how to practice any type of law.”

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Things I Wish I Knew, Vol. 8: The best way to prepare for law school this summer

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…is to not prepare at all.

Dear Class of 2018, you have struggled through the undergraduate battleground, you finished a post-bachelor degree, or maybe you’ve summoned the courage to work AND apply to law school, and you’re positively ravenous for any advice on how to best prepare yourself for what lies ahead of you.

I have only three words for you: Treat. Yo. Self.

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For those of you unfamiliar with NBC’s Parks and Recreation, no worries – you have the entire summer with which to make yourself familiar. But for old fans of Donna Meagle and Tom Haverford, Treat Yo’ Self 2015 (aka, now until right around August 20th) should be spent on you.

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Things I Wish I Knew, Vol. 7: End senior year on a high note

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Dear College Seniors,

Congratulations! The finish line is in sight, you’ve picked up your cap and gown, you’ve probably scheduled or already taken your graduation photos, and all that’s left between you and summer is a bunch of finals. Now, If you’re anything like me, the second you got into BC, the greatest law school on Earth, you were pretty much done with undergrad. At least mentally.

I mean, think about it. As you stand right now, many of you have been going to school non-stop for the past 17 years (and probably even a couple summers here or there, too). You’re tired, and rightly so. You’ve done what you need to do, and likely, your GPA for graduation has already been calculated. What is it going to hurt if you just skate through finals and do the bare minimum?

Well, as it turns out, potentially a lot.

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Things I Wish I Knew, Vol. 6: The Car (or No Car) Chronicles (Part 2)

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Happy April, everyone! This is a continuation of last week’s post (check it out here!) on the question I get most frequently from students about what it’s like having (or not having) a car in Boston.

While I do have a car, I find that (whenever possible) it’s much more convenient to take public transportation. So much like last week, I’ll tell you what my experience has been in not using a car to get around.

PROS OF NOT HAVING A CAR

– You will never have to dig out your car or worry about parking. Enough said. 

Me and my ladies getting ready for Law Prom right before we took an Uber there.

Me and my ladies getting ready for Law Prom right before we took an Uber there.

– Going out is much easier. Law school is about having fun too, and not having a car or having to drive means you don’t have to worry about getting home safely from things like Law Prom.

– You’ll develop a knowledge of the MBTA that your friends will both fear and love. It’s amazing to me how many students with cars don’t know how to get around without them. You will be their guide and guru, showing them the wonders of a whole new world.

– No car means no gas money. Or car payments. Or insurance payments. Which means more money in your pocket to spend on things you actually enjoy.

– You learn to budget your time better. I have friends who live in Back Bay who get more done on their commute than I get done all day. Plus, because they don’t have a car, they’re always conscious of getting places on time. They know how to make their time count because they know that the ride home will either be a long one, or a generous offer from a friend.

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Things I Wish I Knew, Vol. 5: The Car (or No Car) Chronicles (Part 1)

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Happy Monday and welcome to this week’s edition of TIWIK! This is the first part of my two part post on the question I get asked most often by prospective students: “Should I bring my car?”

Real talk: driving in Boston is less than ideal. But the thing no one told me was that having a car in Boston is a zero-sum game. Everyone wins and loses on this point, whether you have a car or not. Either way, you will survive, and I can promise you that you will find a way to be both happy and grouchy about it.

My mom and I on our road trip to Boston with my entire life in the backseat

My mom and me on our road trip to Boston with my entire life in the backseat

I brought my car because I drove to Boston from Florida with all my worldly possessions stuffed in the trunk. But for all the prospective students out there who have a choice to make come this fall, here’s my experience:

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