My “law school blog” came online towards the end of my senior year. It was called “No. 634” and was hosted at wordpress.com.1
Initially, I maintained my personal blog and No.634, but this quickly became redundant because law school is a big part of my personal life and my personal life is why people read my law school blog, so I merged the blogs.
As No.634’s popularity increased during my 1L year, I moved the blog to self-hosted domains and created several spin-off blogs. No.634 has appeared on Bitter Lawyer’s list of law student blogs, Above the Law, Fox New’s Greta Van Susteren’s GretaWire, and the roundup hosted at The Legal Underground and But No Thanks.
I have had the opportunity to meet dozens of law students from other schools and to connect with students and lawyers in Minneapolis in a way that no other law student in the city has.
My online presence also has its drawbacks, mostly because casual visitors glance over this site and form inaccurate impressions about who I am and what my habits are. I am a caricature to some readers – some think that I am always clubbing, always studying, a crazy dog person, uptight, unspeakably unprofessional, mildly retarded, etc. They read the posts that support their conclusion and ignore everything else.
Most of these readers erroneously assume that because I post daily, that I indiscriminately write about everything that happens in my life.
Although this blog is not as vague and anonymous as other law student blogs, there is still a strong filter and discretion at work. I do not write about every dog walk, study session, work day, fight with the boyfriend, or trip to the bathroom. This isn’t Jersey Shore or a bleeding-heart confessional. I know what I am doing, so there’s no need to be scandalized.
Part of the confusion was that this blog was branded as a “law student blog” which invited people to view the posts as “authored by a law student” rather than “authored by a person who just happens to be a law student.” I am obviously still in law school, and therefore still a law student, but the content here encompasses more than that.
I have a life, this blog is about that life, and I hope my current readers and friends continue to appreciate my posts and I also hope that my peers will check their expectations and presumptions before reading.
To be consistent with the blog’s “Hi, welcome to my world” branding, this blog’s new address is dennis-jansen.com and the facebook fan page has been closed. Most of the facebook fans have added me on facebook, so the fan-page was a clog in their newsfeeds. My main twitter account is now @dennisjansen and my @no634 account is now for less frequent updates.
1 I started this blog on livejournal.com as a college freshman.
I was a horrible writer, and quickly moved to a posting format of weekly convoluted lists of events followed by a random picture. This continued for three years. The entries are obscure and pretentious to most readers, and only intelligible to my friends who joined me on my 4-year romp through Miami.
I heart you! That is all. You’ve always been a real person in my book and I’ve always been aware of your filtering.
Thank you. I try to keep it real like Ricki Lake (cue the themesong…)
Your blog is amazing. I think my blog is disappointing because people are looking for law school info and experiences and I mainly write about my wacked life. But too bad, if you don’t like it don’t read it. Keep up the good work, I think you will be VERY successful with your life and your career.
Thanks
My problem with your blog is that it keeps going private every few months! What IS going on mam?
I hate almost everything, but your blog isn’t one of those things. Also not one of those things: cupcakes.
Haha! I am not a fan of cupcakes…too many calories! It’s only Diet Coke here. ;D
Part of the confusion was that this blog was branded as a “law student blog” which invited people to view the posts as “authored by a law student” rather than “authored by a person who just happens to be a law student.”
Dude. Word. Fist Pump. All kinds of hallelujah-ing. That still happens to me occasionally, I get emails all “WHY DON’T YOU WRITE ABOUT LAW SCHOOL?!!?!” and then I imagine that a 0L is twitching on the floor somewhere next to their Logic Games Bible. My response? Law school is not that exciting and actually a rather small part of my life.
I’m trying to kick my Diet Coke addiction, and it bites…
Haha! Thanks! I just wanted to address the handful of people who are just trolling for dirt and seem to be scandalized by the complete-not-scandalous content here. l(like…Gasp…he just swore…)
And as lawyers concerned for lawyers will tell you, there are worse things to be addicted to than diet coke. I started imagining that makes me bloated, which made it easier to stop drinking so much.