I have
been thinking about writing a blog for a long time. The idea fits well
with one of my youthful career goals – becoming a newspaper columnist -- which
arose chronologically somewhere in the midst of major League shortstop,
novelist, and high school history teacher (combined if possible with high
school baseball & soccer coach).
I was
actually “this close” to starting a blog about 15 -20 years ago. A
student who had been quiet up until then came up to me after class and said
that it was important that I have an online presence – maybe a “zine” or diary.
He had even decided to help me along. Amazingly, before even
speaking with me he had bought the domain name, hughhansen.com, and had
programmed and formatted the website himself. He created various pages
for it that had Latin-like filler text waiting for me to come along and replace
it with my own. But much to my regret, this extraordinary opportunity was
never realized. I hesitated too long and finally lost contact with him.
It was early days, preblogospheric, and I did not know anyone who had a
zine or anything else like it, or who could technically create one.
Nevertheless, the idea remained in the back of my mind.
So why
did it take so long to start? One reason is that I have trouble
organizing my life, especially where there is a technical component. Another
reason is that I wondered
whether I would have the time to do it properly. Today, I still have
problems organizing my life and I’m pretty sure that I don’t have the time to
do it properly. Nevertheless, I asked myself, “if not now, when?”
“Never” crossed my mind, but then in rapid succession so did “never say
never,” “nothing ventured nothing gained,” and finally, “perhaps I should
try Twitter.” Indeed, for a while tweets seemed to satisfy my need
to set the world straight. But soon I ended up having ideas, too long,
complex and brilliant for 140 characters, which began spilling over into the
custom-made tweet basin that I use.
Finally,
I no longer could avoid what destiny clearly had in mind for me: “Hugh
Hansen’s One Thing After Another Blog.”
Why this Name?
“One
Thing After Another” was the title of a Canadian newspaper column, and of a
book that collected them in 1948. The author was Charles Bothwell Pyper, known
to the world as C.B. Pyper but to me as Uncle Charley. He was my great uncle,
my grandmother’s brother. He was born in Belfast, moved to Canada at an
early age, and drifted into journalism. He served in the British Army
during WWI and was seriously wounded. Back in Canada he became an
editorial writer and then a war correspondent covering the Spanish Civil War,
the Russo-Finish War and then WWII “embedded” (to use a current term) with the
Canadian army in Europe. Sometime between the wars he was also a
columnist. He took on any and all topics, including the minutiae of day-to-day
life in a self-deprecating, witty and insightful manner. One review
called the book a “volume of brilliant essays” and another stated that Pyper
had been hiding his “literary light under an editorial bushel in a newspaper
office.” My uncle’s sense of humor, insight and wit remind me of Mark
Twain. I think if he had been writing in the U.S. he would have been
recognized as a leading writer and columnist.
One
Thing After Another was the first adult book I read. I
was tremendously impressed with it and still am. To this day my uncle
remains an inspiration. So naturally I would want to name my blog
after his column. The name also fits because my posts will be on
relatively diverse topics like his columns. I added “Hugh Hansen’s . . .
blog” to the name to distinguish it from yet another “One Thing After Another .
. .”, an online “diary about two lads and Eddie the dog” which seems to focus
on recipes, pictures of the actual cooking and delicious-looking results.
What Will it Cover?
Most
blogs seem to focus on one subject matter or area. This is particularly
true for those dealing with law. This format makes sense. For
instance, lawyers and academics tend to specialize, and have little time for
material outside of their areas. Nonetheless, I intend to post things in
a number of areas: IP law, some con law, other legal topics, and also a number
of non-legal topics. Readers of course can pick and choose what they want
to read.
With
regard to the law, I am a legal realist (lower case) and will be looking
beyond, beneath and inside the doctrine in cases. I will try to determine
if something other than statutory language or case law might have driven a
result. To what extent will a holding in a case act as a binding
precedent even for the same judge or judges in the future? Similarly, how
might other judges in the same or other circuits view the case, and to what
extent might they follow it? As you probably perceive, I am a stare
decisis skeptic.
Also, I
will be sharing my views on aspects of federal practice, particularly with
regard to litigation. I have been lucky to have observed many trials and
appeals as a law clerk in the S.D.N.Y. and Second Circuit. I have been a
litigation associate in a large law firm, tried a number of cases as an AUSA,
consulted on cases here and abroad, and have analyzed countless cases as a
teacher deconstructing what went wrong or right. It would be unfortunate
if I hadn't learned something from all of this.
Conclusion.
I am glad to finally start a blog. I plan to have fun and
hopefully produce something for readers to think about, whether they agree or
disagree with it. I welcome comments but please remember, I am a sensitive lad.
