R.I.P. J.D.

J.D. Salinger died today. "Catcher in the Rye" is my favorite book, as cliche as that might be. Though I might not want to be friends with him, I love Holden Caulfield. The book's themes of youth and alienation really spoke to me when I first read it (seventh grade, I believe), as well as in subsequent readings. I also love "Nine Stories," particularly "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" and "For Esme With Love and Squalor." Salinger was a master wordsmith, and had a great intuition for human nature. By and large, he was not a sappy or obvious writer. I still have absolutely no idea what to make of "Bananafish." But I like that. It means you can take many things away from it. His writing is multifaceted, full of new things to notice and identify with. Also, it is weird that I mentioned that I love J.D. Salinger in my post last night. I'll chalk that up to being plain creepy. One thing's for sure. Salinger wasn't a phony. (Obvious joke.)

That was sad. Also, Howard Zinn died. Somehow "People's History" didn't have the same emotional appeal. The characters weren't as full. Still, it was a good book, and he was an influential man.

Who is the third going to be?

I watched the finals of a really prestigious moot court competition at school today. It was about free exercise and religious school being converted into charter schools. Interesting stuff actually. But the competition was judged by...real judges. Big time ones too. Two judges from the Ninth Circuit and one from the Second. They weren't messing around. If I were one of the competitors I might have had a nervous breakdown on stage or lost all bowel control. Things would have been bad. But everyone kept their composure and did a good job. Apparently a few years ago the panel was then-Judge Sotomayor, Judge Calabresi, and Justice Scalia. I would have just dropped dead, were I competing. Good thing I'm not! Suckers! No pressure on me. If that isn't motivation not to compete in moot court, I don't know what is. That's just stress I don't need at this juncture in my life. I don't need a premature heart attack. Though there is a large amount of prestige associated with it too. Hrmmm. I like it when people know how awesome I am. (Thus this blog, to some extent.) Conundrum.