We are pleased to announce that Destiny Pemberton, a graduate from Texas A&M University is the winner of the 2023 ChapmanAlbin Law School Scholarship Essay Contest. Destiny will be awarded $1,000 to be used towards tuition and/or expenses at her law school of choice.
For this year’s essay, scholarship applicants were asked: “It is illegal to put ice cream on cherry pie in Kansas. It is against the law to make faces at dogs in Illinois. In Connecticut, a pickle may not be considered a pickle until it bounces. Throughout our history, there have been some ridiculous laws like these (some that still exist today!). Choose one of the above or a ridiculous law you find, and argue for it.”
Read Destiny’s winning essay below.
Upon some research, I found that in North Carolina it is illegal to sing off-key. The average person might think this law is ridiculous, but they would soon change their mind if they heard the musical stylings of my Aunt Kelly.
I will never forget the first time I heard her “singing.” It was Thanksgiving and I was around 10 or 11. Lots of my extended family made the long drive from Alabama for the holiday, and we were gathered in a circle to pray over the food. My uncle prayed and immediately after, my aunt began belting “We are Family” by Sister Sledge. That song is well known and extremely hard to ruin, but my aunt took on the task with ease. All the notes were just incorrect, loud, and held out for entirely too long. My cousins and I laughed until we realized she was being completely serious.
I didn’t know it was possible to be that tone deaf until then, and that is why I strongly understand the intentions behind the law. Some people just don’t know the pain off-key singing can cause to one’s ears and soul as well as the confusion and second-hand embarrassment it causes amongst bystanders in the room. Laws like this could make some individuals reevaluate the quality of their singing and its effect on others. This law could have definitely saved me growing up, because after that Thanksgiving, my aunt decided to sing after the family prayer every single year, making it one of our most dreaded family traditions. No one is ever allowed to laugh either. We just sit through two minutes of torture, which she refers to as “dinner and a show.” Laws like this could improve self-awareness and put an end to this cruelty once and for all.
Congratulations Destiny! If you are an incoming or current law student, be on the lookout for our next scholarship opportunity.
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