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15 Const. Comment. 1 (1998)
The Potbable Constitution

handle is hein.journals/ccum15 and id is 9 raw text is: But CfL... THE POTABLE CONSTITUTION MEMORANDUM TO: William S. Pattee, Dean and E. Thomas Sullivan Pro- fessor of Law FROM: Vance Opperman, Associate Professor of Law and Jim Chen Research Scholar RE: Reports of my dementia are greatly exaggerated CC: Henry J. Fletcher, Associate Dean and Daniel A. Far- ber Professor of Law Live and learn, I guess. In but a few tumultuous years I have gone from junior but jittery to untenured but unrepentant2 and finally to secure and circumspect.' The experience of being thrashed and trashed in a law review symposium dedicated to my work4 has prompted me to rethink my pedagogical and scholarly agenda.' 1. Cf Jim Chen, Rock 'n' Roll Law School, 12 Const. Comm. 315, 315 (1995) (invoking the fear that lurks in the heart of every junior professor). 2. Cf Jim Chen, Untenured but Unrepentant, 81 Iowa L. Rev. 1609 (1996). 3. Letter from Steven Bosacker, May 9, 1997 (reporting that the Board of Re- gents of the University of Minnesota approved a grant of indefinite tenure to the author) (copy on file with Constitutional Commentary). 4. See Keith Aoki, The Scholarship of Reconstruction and the Politics of Backlash, 81 Iowa L. Rev. 1467 (1996). 5. I hope that you have not been unduly alarmed by published reports that I am hearing voices in the air, Garrett Epps, What's Loving Got to Do with It?, 81 Iowa L. Rev. 1489, 1490 (1996), or at least suffering from the angular, disjointed nature of my repressed sexuality. Neil Gotanda, Chen the Chosen: Reflections on Unloving, 81 Iowa L. Rev. 1585, 1599-1600 (1996). I now see how wise Professor Fletcher was when he cautioned me against coming out as an avowed heterosexual. See Jim Chen, Unlov- ing, 80 Iowa L. Rev. 145, 173 (1994) (describing, rather shamelessly, the sheer magic of