The Law Review Games

Abstract

Assistant Professor Katniss Everdeen’s stomach rumbled loudly. Another skipped meal, because who had time to eat when working on yet another law review article? Her work had consumed almost a year of her effort and vitality. But despite the gnawing hunger pains, Katniss had to keep working, honing, crafting, and polishing the writing of her article. There was not even time to go poaching with fellow faculty member, Gale, or to engage in puppy-love histrionics with another faculty member, Peeta. Since the great recession had started, resources were scarce in District Twelve. Electricity only came to law school buildings erratically, so she had to work on the article in the few stolen moments of electricity that she could obtain. On the weekend, Katniss would duck under the fence beneath the elevated train track that some of the wealthy faculty members at a nearby top-ranked school used to ride back and forth to their homes. Sometimes, when she was down there, under the fence poaching electricity and hacking into the Westlaw grid, Katniss felt her spirit soar. She appreciated the company of her colleague Gale, who would sometimes hack into the Westlaw grid too. Sometimes, while they were hunkered underneath the tracks, a faculty member from a higher ranked school in the area would toss out a crust of bread from the high window of the train. The bread tasted bitter to Katniss, but with two hungry mouths to feed at home (her niece Petunia and their miniature daschund), she and Gale always found themselves silently accepting the bread.