As some of you know, I (along with Mr. Mooch) practice law. I'm on my own, but I also work with other attorneys on a contract basis. Sometimes the money is good. sometimes it isn't. I've been wanting to work on a steady basis, maybe even join a firm, so i'm currently talking to attorneys and sometimes interviewing with firms. I pitch my ideas.
On Friday the interview lasted 4 hours.
This had to be the hardest interview of my life. Not really because the Interviewer was harsh...on the contrary...he seemed pleasant as can be. it was hard because i've never had to recall so much information in my life.
Every 5th sentence/question was about law or legal work. i was quizzed about what i've done from my 1st year of law school to the present day, as well as my plans for a legal career whether i work with this firm, another, or on my own. Basic stuff, right? well...that was only part of it.
Throughout this 4 hours i also had to talk (with a working knowledge) about Every Governor since the 1930s, 1966 Democratic Primary for the 3rd Congressional District and how a Tornado effected the outcome, What Teddy Roosevelt books were best, what, exactly, are the best American auto-biographies of all time, My thoughts on "Lanterns on the Levee", just who were the premiere Bear hunters of Mississippi around the turn of a century (hint, he didn't like to use a gun!--jesus), each President over the last 100 years, and who sang the best version of "Bei Mir Bist du Schön" (The Andrews Sisters)...that last one intrigued the guy so much that i even knew the song at all, it created a new twist to the interview where i was quized on who was singing the songs playing in the background while we talked. He'd stop the conversation to quiz "Who's THAT?". None were newer than 45 years old and I missed one.
There was actually MUCH more, but you get the idea. Moreover, the interview was conducted while being plied with a HALF BOTTLE of Wild Turkey: Russell's Reserve. Thanks to my strong constitution, all ended well. The guy is from the Mississippi Delta, as am I, and THAT place produces some strange birds. Anyway, I don't know if I'll get/take a job there, but I got invited to dinner the next day, so it couldn't have gone too poorly. We'll see.
Monday, April 25, 2005
Four Hours and Half a Bottle of Bourbon
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3 comments:
POLLAN!!!!!! Sounds like that would be a PERFECT job for you...and you're the most impressive person I know...why wouldn't he love yoU!!?!?!? Congrats!!!!
Good luck. Man, I would've needed Bert Case on a two-way in my ear to make it through that one. Jeez. Rock on. Good luck.
It went well, but with eccentric people...things take forever or happen at 1000 mph. we'll see. the whole experience was somewhat surreal, to the point where i was consciously thinking to myself "jesus! i've never seen someone want to talk so much about this stuff on a job interview. i've GOT to try and remember this to tell the story or put it on my blog!"
I really could only recall a small fraction.
As for "Lanterns on the Levee"...well, anyone else read it? I read it in pieces over time and that was years ago. I did think it was damn outstanding, none the less. it's a book that seems to always be mentioned in the same breath as "rising tide" which i've yet to (and want to read...along with "The Most Southern Place on Earth: The Mississippi Delta and the Roots of Regional Identity"--evidently these 3 books must be read together at some point in life and for god's sake, you BETTER get to it if you're from the Delta).
As for my thoughts on the book...i found it to be wonderfully well written and pleasantly honest. it was written in an era where plain talk was not shaded by thoughts of a PC view of the past or a defensive view of the past was needed or used. subsequently, it erased those same shadows that appear to me--now--as a reader.
It talks about some of the regional rivalry between the hill whites and the delta whites which i find interesting. in a one party, one race (in political reality), poor state, vivid points of rivalry still rears its head. moreover, i find it interesting that while race could dominate things here, there were also ways that (because black people were so powerless and disenfranchised) they actually weren't considered as part of the equation of daily life.
I sometimes think about the modern day version of this. Less in a political way, and not necessarily even in a southern setting, but you'll get the idea. Someone living in a diverse area, or in the form of the delta, a white person in the population minority can live a very insular life. living in an area that's only 25% white but somehow they never find themselves around black (or whatever) people. go to a white school and a white church and have only white friends and the only time you interact is if you're waiting in line behind someone the grocery store line (and in some affluent areas, not even THAT). it just amazes me the degree that someone can self-segregate their lives. like living in the desert and never seeing any sand. it just seems bizarre.
ahem...i guess i got off Lanterns on the Levee. Hmm...one thing that it hits one is the idea that we, from the delta, think we're better than the rest of you, from everywhere else. the landed gentry were rural and agrarian, but used their money (more than in other areas of this state) to travel and gain a cosmopolitan view of the world while retaining a deep love of their 'old south'. generally they were the ones that saw themselves as representative of the genteel South and not the Loutish sorts that generally can be found anywhere east of the western city limits sign of Batesville (heh).
The guy that interviewed me was Delta and not hillfolk, and his question about that book was wanting to know about that distinction as it was about my thoughts on the tome.
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