"I aint passed the Bar but I know a little bit - enough that you won't illegally search my sh*t!"

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has taken a bit of inspiration from rapper/hip-hop mogul Sean Carter (more commonly known as Jay-Z) – but did you know that the best rapper alive actually has a bit of decent legal advice to offer? A friend of mine in law school posted this on her facebook wall recently: “How Valid is Implied Legal Advice Given in Jay-Z’s  ’99Problems‘ “?

It turns out that most of the Hova”s implied legal advice in the song is fairly sound! While I doubt the Jigga man will be looking to make a career change any time soon, I’d love to see the God MC in the court room – closing arguments would flow as effortlessly as a track from The Blueprint. Alas, for some, swagger in the courtroom is frowned upon.

When I was in third grade, a lot of the kids dreaded going to Sunday School because it was boring. I dreaded it for another reason. At eight years old, I had become deeply skeptical about the existence of God. (Okay, maybe not that deeply.) This was particularly inconvenient as I was the minister’s daughter at our Baptist church. I was not supposed to be an atheist. Especially not before I was tall enough to ride most roller coasters, old enough to drink caffeine, or able to multiply by six without using my fingers.

So when my Sunday School teacher passed around bright, green, half-page sheets with the heading “Proof that God Exists” at the top, I couldn’t read fast enough. Proof! Here was proof! Give it to me!

Under the heading were several lines. They read (something like):

1. God is the greatest thing that can be conceived.
2. We conceive of God.
3. It is greater to exist in reality than only in the imagination.
4. Therefore, the being of which we can conceive must exist in reality. (Otherwise, we could conceive of something greater, which is impossible.)

On the bottom of the page was a single name: Anselm. Forget Madonna or Prince. Anselm was my new celebrity crush.

I folded the proof and stuck it in my Bible, right in the middle (probably in Psalms or Proverbs). I started asking adults left and right if they had seen the proof. They would raise their eyebrows, then I’d pull it out and pass it over. They would politely read then hand it back, offering something absent like, “How about that.” Over and over again, I made people uncomfortable in this way. I saw it as my mission to reach everyone who hadn’t heard: Logic has spoken! Hark! God is real!

Eventually, for the record (what record?), I found my way to a personal belief in God based on faith, not reason alone. But the other day, Anselm and his argument came to mind. LSAT instructor that I am, I was curious to revisit it from the perspective of an adult with a pretty good handle on logic.

The proof, which dates back to the Eleventh Century, has been controversial pretty much ever since. Even Kant jumped in the conversation. Philosopher Steven Law writes that while few philosophers today find Anselm’s argument convincing, “there remains no consensus as to exactly what is wrong with it.” It’s definitely simple and elegant. Take a stab at it, yourself. Where are the gaps and term shifts?

Or, if you’re more interested in Kant’s critique than your own, check out Law’s blog post on the proof, where he clearly and interestingly outlines a few critiques.

And if it convinces you that God does, in fact, exist… Well, my third grade self would be very happy.

The latter activity inspired this week’s post, in which (get ready) I will publish for the first time ever read, seen, or experienced, my original LSAT haikus. Whether it refreshes your memory of test strategy, triggers horrific flashbacks, or inspires an ill-informed decision to ditch law school and become a mediocre poet, I hope you enjoy. Some feedback on which is best, or a few poems of your own are strongly encouraged!

On Logic Games:

Xavier is in

only if Olga is out.

The boat is quite small.

On Reading Comprehension:                                                                                                                            

The author agrees

that the passage is too long.

Fire the editor.

On Logical Reasoning:

Mary Adkins: 99th Percentile LSAT instructor and poet extraordinaire!

O, argument core!

Premise. Conclusion. What else?

Gap. Blank. Missing. _______.

On the essay:

Alas, dost though read

the essay? A fallen tree

no one hears fall, it.

Mary Adkins is one of Manhattan LSAT’s 99th percentile rock star instructors based out of New York City. She’s also available for Private Tutoring, both in NYC and Live Online.

The Kitty Shuffle

I know I’m supposed to be blogging about the LSAT, but it’s Monday – you’ve just found yourself drooling on top of PT32 (that French and Russian Works game is tough!) and you’re feeling out of touch with the world. Let me help you put things into perspective.

Go and buy Dancing with Cats – my friends just gave it to me as a housewarming gift. Here’s an excerpt:

“Other cat dancers I’ve talked to on the Web use heavy metal, Techno, and World Beat. One guy says he uses Marley to build up such strong vibrational levels in just five minutes that they last for days. But you have to be careful; sometimes the energy is so powerful I worry about overstimulating my aura. At those levels, an unstable etheric oscillation could collapse into an astral vortex and suck my spiritual reserves into a state of negative sub-matter.”

Yes, indeed. Here are some other great pics of people who dance with cats. Take a break, grab a kitty for a twirl to some Marley – but be careful…

We all knew that Gilad can teach – he’s funny and wickedly smart. But last week, Gilad blew us away by revealing his other talent: the sax. It was dark, it was smoky (well, not really, NYC banned cigarettes – you now have to go to Jersey to smoke), and it was awesome. As one of Gilad’s true fans, I was super excited to see that he can play like a champion, because it’d be really lame for Gilad to try to impress the ladies with his perfect LSAT score. (Remember that initial scene in The Social Network?).

Watch him play and then sign up for his course.

If you want to see me seriously mangle some Bob Dylan tune on the guitar, please privately e-mail me. J

On To The LSAT!

For those of you who just walked across the stage – particularly those who managed to do so without face planting – we salute you.  Graduation ceremonies are the important culmination of 4+ years of careful study, even if it may have been in the art of carousals, the opposite sex, and parental money laundering.  In honor of all the new graduates out there, we have themed our latest Logic Games Challenge around the pomp and circumstance of the season.

Try out the easy or hard version of our new logic game, submit your best answer explanation to our forum, and you could potentially win a fabulous prize (either $200 off a course, or some books) from us.  Prizes are given to the best answer explanation for both versions of the game, as well as to one randomly selected participant.  So far, only 33% of respondents to the hard version of the challenge have been able to answer all of the questions correctly.  Do you have what it takes?

In that spirit, we wanted to share some more law school themed hilarity from the web:

Check out this music video titled “Law School State of Mind” set to the tune of Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind”.  Perhaps a cautionary tale?!

Even if you’re still an undergrad, these two videos from the hilarious and talented GW Law Revue might resonate with you.

The first is a “preview” about the horror of class without laptops .  This is right on the money. I once saw one of my ‘Psychology of Addiction’ classmates lose $750 in one lecture on pokerstars.com…

Ever shotgun a can of red bull in order to maintain your all night study session?  You’ll definitely appreciate where these guys are coming from.

Happy Friday!

Tools of the Trade

At Manhattan LSAT we are constantly swelling with pride over the achievements of our instructors. If you’ve ever spoken with us about them, you’ve probably  noticed that we fancy them quite a bit! We’re lucky to have so many incredibly intelligent, talented, and downright fascinating individuals on our team.

A recent example of our collective Manhattan LSAT-instructor-coolness takes us deep in to the world of metaphor and rhyme. John Beer, a Manhattan LSAT teacher in Chicago, has recently been given the Norma Farber First Book Award for his book, The Waste Land And Other Poems, The Norma Farber Award is given annually to one exceptional poet who has published their first book of original American poetry.  John will be traveling to New York City in April to accept the award.

I’ve been treating myself to a healthy sized sample of these poems for the last week or so and have thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

There is even an entire section toward the end of the book called “Sonnets to Morpheus”.  Yep, that’s a Matrix reference!

We’re so incredibly proud of John. I would encourage any of you who are interested in poetry to check out his book, available on Amazon.

Harvard’s Stephen Burt has written a review of The Waste Land And Other Poems for bostonreview.net (scroll down a little ways until you see John’s name in the subheading)