Summer option observations: (1) I am starting on this way too late. (2) I am moving way too slow. (3) There are way too many essays about my future involved. Good grief, I don't even know what shirt I want to wear tomorrow; how am I supposed to know where my career is going to be in 15 years? So do I:

A) Go back to Department of Children and Families and save babies for another summer? I would get next to no pay, but I could live at home and have next to no expenses. I'm fairly confident I can get the job, and it might be a good summer to do public interest.

B) Participate in the Blackstone Fellowship? I've heard fabulous things about it, and it might be a good career step if I want to have a shot at a judicial appoinment (hey, why not; black is so easy to accessorize). Better pay, but I am almost guaranteed to not be at home next summer. I could end up farmed out anywhere. I might be working on important things I believe in, like actual Free Exercise cases or human rights, but I might also end up working on things I think are a distraction and fuel the already negative stereotype of the "religious right," like exempting parochial schools from academic standards. Not sure what my odds are for getting the fellowship, but I know the application is a fair amount of work. Or...

C) Take a shot at a firm job? I've identified some in Tampa I wouldn't mind haunting for a while. The pay is considerably better than either previous option, but the odds are proportionately lower. I would probably not live at home, but if I worked in Tampa or Orlando I could come home on the weekends. A Florida firm might be easier for an ND student to get into than a Chigaco firm, since Chicago has Northwestern, U of Chicago, and a host of other law schools nearby to fuel the job market, but no guarantees. Most larger firms specialize in such stimulating fields as corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, and reorganizations, but maybe those are more interesting than they sound. The bigger danger might be that the pay could become addictive and saving babies might actually be more important. Hmmm.