Good Eggs and Research Papers

I'm working on three research papers at the moment, not an uncommon task for a second- or third-year law student. This gives me the pleasure (no, really) of spending inordinate of time reading news and law review articles, cases, and statutes which may or may not be helpful to my cause. Doing research for a legal paper involves a hodgepodge of systematic exhaustion and serendipity. The latter comes when you find that amazing piece of work that seems as if the author wrote it just to help you with your particular project.

The three papers include my Note, a criticism of the portion of Virginia death penalty law that allows people to die if a jury determines they pose a "serious continuing threat to society." I've been working on this since August, and it's finally due in two weeks. In the last few days, I have completely revamped this 42-page article with the help of a fantastic, brilliant lawyer, writer and friend. The second paper is a 15-25 pager for my Death Penalty seminar. My outline is due Monday. Today I'm reading Albert Camus' terrific essay, Reflections on the Guillotine, for inspiration and to get started on what I think will turn into a law student/philosopher/former journalist's view on why America continues to execute criminals when most of the rest of the Western world quit decades ago. The final paper is a 25-40 pager I'm just starting for my Post-Conflict Justice/Rule of Law class. This week I switched topics, ultimately deciding to write about the new legal rights given to victims in the Khmer Rouge trial.

My original topic, and my reason for writing today, was the conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. I could not come up with a post-conflict thesis for my paper, in part because the conflict has not ended. I did, however, become even more interested in the crisis and the myriad problems that both sides face. Perhaps coincidentally, my girlfriend posted this fantastic article on her Facebook profile. A Japanese novelist, Haruki Murakami, faced the difficult decision of whether to go to Israel and accept a literary award, at a time when Israel's popularity in the world continues to plummet. In his amazing piece for Salon, he creates an apt metaphor for the conflict:

"Between a high, solid wall and an egg that breaks against it, I will always stand on the side of the egg."

Of course, Israel, with its superior weaponry and U.S. backing, is the wall and the Palestinians are the egg. Or do the Israeli government and Hamas together form the wall, making Israeli and Palestinian civilians the egg? Haruki leaves an important ambiguity there, one worth pondering.