Were the Founders Shredders?

Four snowboarders are suing Alta Ski Resort in federal court for the right to destroy moguls and cut in lift lines. (Okay, I’m a skier.) Will this case turn on the standard of review the court uses or on whether the judge rides a snowboard? Should the plaintiffs win? Depends on who you ask.

The ban excludes a “particular class of individuals from use and enjoyment of public land based on irrational discrimination against snowboarders,” [attorney Jonathan Schofield] said.

It pits those who stand sideways on a single “snowboard” against those who stand forward on “skis,” creating hostility and divisiveness, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court.

Diane Harrington–a boarder and a skier–seems to agree:

“I think it should be figured out in the courts. I think it’s OK that Alta restricts use of the lift, but I don’t think it’s fair that they keep people off (U.S.) Forest Service property,” she said. “Our taxes pay for it equally. It’s almost like discrimination of sorts.”

Not so fast says Kevin Hurley:

“It’s the only place left. Give it to ’em. Snowboarders go anywhere else you want to go, but leave Alta for the skier. Where we live, we gotta deal with snowboarders, and we’d rather deal with skiers.”

Stay tuned.

Political Fun with Words

Poetry. I’m thinking about, no, reading, poetry. Deadline poetry to be exact. Deadline poetry written by Calvin Trillin, who is the designated Deadline Poet at The Nation. (He also writes for The New Yorker, and his short book About Alice is a gem–it’s about his wife Alice.)

Deadline poetry is essentially poetry written on deadline that captures some little bit in the news that day in poetic form, generally in rhyme. Given that Trillin writes for The Nation, most of his poems take shots at Republicans and rich people, but he’s not unwilling to take a shot or two at those on his side of the aisle. And so it was that on the day that Hillary Rodham Clinton went on The Today Show to defend Mr. Clinton at the beginning of what Trillin refers to as “the . . . unpleasantness,” he penned the following:

And so it’s up to our Ms. Rodham
To prove Bill’s White House isn’t Sodom.
It’s left to this adroit señora
To show that it is just Gomorrah.

Hello World — This Time It’s for Real

New WordPress blogs come ready made with a blog post with a heading that reads, “Hello World,” so it seems as if that’s as good a place to start as any. I’ll begin with a post that melds the two subjects I teach at Brigham Young University: writing and the law.

Jack Daniel’s is in the news today because of a cease and desist letter attorney Cristy Susman wrote to protect Jack Daniel’s trademark. First, here’s the reason for the letter:

And here’s the letter (courtesy of Esquire):

Direct, with a touch of kindness; firm, with an awareness of the much broader audience; the letter is a model of how to promote your business even as you enforce your rights. It’s a letter more than one attorney would benefit from by imitating.

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