The following is the actual title and subtitle of an item in the Monthly Update that I receive today in e-mail from the American Bar Association Law Student Division.
Commission on Homelessness and Poverty
Welcome Law Students
What a great Friday chuckle! :J
Since John Edward's extra-marital affair was revealed some weeks ago, he has endured much criticism -- anew from critics and afresh from former allies. I thought the whole discussion tacky and irrelevant and tried to ignore the whole controversy. However, I will remain silent no longer now that Elizabeth Edwards, wife of the former Tarheel Senator, is suffering criticism for what's described has her "complicity" in the cover-up of the affair from the time John confessed it to her in 2006 until it hit the fan this year. (See this article in the 26 August 2008 edition of the Raleigh News and Observer.)
Enough, already! This whole business is not worthy of discussion! Edward's affair has no relevance in the political sphere. The fact that this man was unfaithful to his wife is the business of no one but the people directly involved -- John, Elizabeth, Rielle Hunter, and their immediate families. We, the general public, have no business delving into such matters.
"But he deceived us!" "We believed in him!" "We thought he was such a good man!" So what if he lied! Given all of this reaction, wouldn't you have? It's not like he stole money and lied about it. It's not like he was actively questioned about an affair in front of Congress and actively lied about it! (Don't get me started on the Clinton-Lewinsky debacle.) If one believed in Edwards' political message before news of the affair came to light, why shouldn't one believe in it now? If Edwards was a good man before, he still is. The point is that he's a man -- a human -- like all of us. :J
No, not mine... his. With marriage comes in-laws and all of the stereotypical baggage that that relationship implicates. In this case, things have gotten off to a good start, as my Mum left a quite positive comment on the entry in Chris' blog about our marriage. It made me very happy and very proud to read it! :J
I can’t believe that I spent nearly two months in Spain and wrote only one entry for this blog. It’s true that I was busy enough experiencing living in a foreign country and documenting that experience through photos, not to mention the commitment required for my two Spanish courses in Madrid and the independent study that I’m doing for law school! It took a couple of weeks to adjust emotionally and physically to being abroad. It was quite an adventure living in a cosmopolitan city of six million people in a foreign country where I had to use my foreign language skills on a daily an hourly basis to survive. In the end, I not only survived, but flourished, and came to love my temporary home! I made many wonderful friends of classmates, my señora and her family, and other madrileños. I learned a great deal about myself, too, by finding the assertive part of myself, by pushing the limits of my tolerance for daily annoyances, by pressing myself to persevere in difficult tasks, and by stretching to communicate with people with a completely different perspective and approach than I.
I can’t believe that I finally met Enrico, my Italian pen-friend of seventeen years! After my Spanish courses ended, I flew to Italy and spent a few days in Modena getting to know Enrico, his family, and his hometown. After Italy, I went to France to spend a long weekend with friends who live south of Lyon, near Montélimar; they live in a fairy tale – a medieval village with a castle towering over and surrounded by mountains and vineyards. In both France and Italy I had to pull out and dust off my French in order to talk with my friends, find my way about, and get along in daily life.
I can’t believe that I’m already back in the States and working in my internship in the District Attorney’s office and living with my grandparents. Pepper and I have installed ourselves in Rockingham with Mamaw and Papaw. I awaken early, put on a suit, and head to the courthouse, where I observe in court and do research to help the prosecutors to prepare for upcoming cases. Deputies, jurors, defendants, defense counsel, and even judges have all addressed me as if I were already a lawyer; at least I look the part!
I can’t believe that on 4 July, the day after I returned from Spain, Chris, my boyfriend of two-and-a-half years, proposed to me over lunch in the restaurant where we rekindled the friendship that we initiated fifteen years ago. I was dumbfounded and couldn’t speak for a moment, but I eventually gathered enough wits to accept! After some discussion of what to do next (set a date for a ceremony, elope, plan a reception), we went on to purchase the rings that we’d chosen before I went to Spain, said vows to one another in private, and are now married – husband and husband. Chris wrote about this event in his blog far more eloquently than I did here!
I can’t believe what an amazing man I have in my life. Chris is intelligent (especially so in ways that I’m not), gifted in dealing with children, a great cook, disarmingly handsome, a gentle lover, and has a seemingly unending capacity to love. He is a good friend, was a great boyfriend, and will certainly be a wonderful husband and father.
I can’t believe the reactions of our families. Chris’ family comes from a religious background, but most of them root their faith in love and choose to express that emotion over others. Chris’ sister voiced her delight at the prospect of my being her brother-in-law several weeks ago. Chris sat down with his parents just a couple of days after our exchange of rings and was pleasantly surprised by their reaction and their willingness to engage in dialogue. My own mother expressed unabashed pleasure at the news, exclaiming “You picked a good one!” My dad was surprised at the quick turn of events, but was delighted and wished us much happiness. My grandmother was also caught off-guard by the surprise news and I was caught equally off-guard by her reaction. My mother had apparently told her that someone had gotten married and that she should phone me for details; she did and when I revealed the newlyweds’ identity, I was met with silence. When I saw her in person the next day, a disrespectful comment on her part resulted in a confrontation between us which ended only with ruffled feathers being smoothed, rather than any meeting of the minds, or, for that matter, any congratulations.
Having covered what I can’t believe, you might be wondering what I can believe. I can and do believe that life is a series of challenges to which we must rise and that the greatest injustice that we can commit against ourselves is to think that we aren’t good enough to achieve great things or that we don’t deserve to have great things happen to us. :J
After a whirlwind of studying, exams that felt like one punch after another, and seeing to countless details, I boarded a plane at noon EDT on Thursday and headed for Madrid. Despite connections in Detroit and Amsterdam, the trip felt short. Heck, after that 19-hour flight to Manila, almost any non-inter-planetary trip would feel short!
Dutch security tried to throw a monkey-wrench into my travel plans. I was trotting through the terminal of Schiphol airport, following the signs to the gate for the final leg of my trip when -- Bam! -- I ran right into a crowd of people sifting VERY slowly through passport control and customs. I stood in one line for about ten minutes without moving before deciding to head over to the "quick connections" line. Despite its name, it wasn't moving much faster than the other lines. Tempers flared. People shouted at the Passport agents in French and Dutch and with Australian, British, and totally foreign accents that they were missing their connections. I was in danger of missing my own connection! I watched as flights leaving at the same time as mine showed "boarding" and then "gate closing". I tried to not panic. At the x-ray belt, people flung things trough, disregarding admonishments to remove liquids, gels, shoes, belts, laptops, etc. I grabbed my bags and started to run as I fed my belt through the loops on my pants, then stopped short, realizing that I'd left my wallet, passport, and onward ticket at the x-ray! I dropped my bags right there in the middle of the airport and went back for my other things! Granted, it was only about 15 feet, but in the pressing crowd, Jimmy Hoffa could've disappeared.
I did make it to my flight to Madrid. As I approached the gate, I heard my name announced over the public address system. The gate agents and flight crew were very friendly and welcomed me warmly; they expressed genuine concern that I had to rush and told me to relax on the flight and let them take care of me. No problem! KLM treated us all well with good food and extremely friendly staff, so the flight from Amsterdam to Madrid was awesome. There was no passport control or customs to speak of in Madrid; I just walked past a lone Guardia Civil that ignored me. Cash. Change. Phone call ("Hola, Marlí ¡he llegado!"). Taxi. Apartment. Exhale. Relief!
I have eaten and slept a good bit since my arrival this morning. I was hoping to lose some weight in Madrid with all of the extra walking and none of the fast food, but if my señora keeps feeding me like this, those hopes will be dashed. I have already had a pan-fried chicken breast with garlic, green salad, and a huge tortilla. Of course, a Spanish tortilla is what we'd call an omelette -- chopped potatoes and onions mixed with a few eggs and baked on the stovetop in a pan so that it looks a bit like a stout cake of cornbread. Yum!
I have taken some photos of the apartment where I'm staying, as well as the little bit of Madrid that I can see from my windows. I walked around the neighborhood after dinner, but it was too dark to take photos then. BTW, it didn't get completely dark until 10.30 PM! I plan to go out tomorrow to take photos of the neighborhood, scope out the route to school, and see Retiro Park. Retiro Park was once a wilderness preserve and royal retreat, so it is to Madrid as Central Park is to New York or Bosque Chapultepec is to Mexico City.
I have discovered just how much energy it takes to concentrate on what people are saying so that I can understand them. I am blessed with a good accent, so people can understand me easily when I speak Spanish, but that leads my listener to assume that I'm gonna understand him/her when s/he talks back! Not always the case at present. I'm confident, however, that if I maintain throughout my trip the level of interaction that I've had today, I'll have made a big improvement in my skills!
For now, I'm off to dream-land! Er, I mean... el país de los sueños. :J
Ugh. I saw this horrid sight for the first time in my life, but probably not the last.
It's kinda funny -- last week, a classmate and I were fussing about fuel prices when I speculated, "I'd be that diesel will be up to four dollars per gallon by Labor Day (beginning of September), maybe even Memorial Day (end of May)." Or... tomorrow! This followed a fifty-cent rise in the price of diesel over a two week period. Ugh. :J
Wow... nothing for nearly two months and now two posts in one day! What's next, parity of the dollar with the euro?
I'm Founding President of OutLaw, an organization of students at Elon University School of Law who are interested in legal issues affecting the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community. OutLaw is open to all Elon Law students.
On Wendesday of this week, OutLaw hosted its inaugural programming event, the Out Lawyer Forum. Three local attorneys came to the law school and spoke to about two dozen students, faculty, and staff about practicing law as an openly-gay or -lesbian lawyer in Greensboro. Panelists included Ron Johnson (partner in the law firm of Johnson, Peddrick, and McDonald who has practiced in Greensboro since 1974 and is a Board Certified Specialist in estate planning and probate law), Rebecca Perry (who has practiced family law as a solo practitioner in Greensboro since 2002, is a Board Certified Specialist in family law, and is an active member of the State Bars of North Carolina and Texas), and Andrew Spainhour (who worked as a lobbyist's assistant in Washington DC before turning down job offers in New York to become corporate counsel of Replacements Ltd). Law school Dean Leary Davis and his guest, David Campbell, a scholar of the role that diversity plays in leadership, welcomed the panelists and audience as the program began.
All in all, the program was a great success. Read all about it!
http://www.elon.edu/e-web/academics/law/outlaw_forum_3_08.xhtml
:J
Well, it had to happen sooner or later. Everyone has their day in court for one reason or another and yesterday was mine. I emptied my pockets and walked through the metal detector and into the court house. I took the elevator up to the fourth floor and checked with the prosecutor's office to find out where I should go. Down two floors and into the packed criminal court room. A second-year classmate interning with the prosecutor's office saw me come in; her mouth flew open and she grabbed the docket sheet to see where my name was on it. I found a seat and took it quietly, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible.
I had had enough continuances and it was time to face the fact that I had to spend a day observing criminal court for my criminal law class. The prosecutor's office told me where I should go to see the most action. Luckily and to her relief, my classmate didn't find my name on the docket sheet. There were plenty of others, though! It took about twenty minutes just for docket call--reading all of the names from the list of cases to be heard. Probably one-third to one-half of the cases were continued to another day. Probably a fifth were dismissed and another third were deferred pending payment of restitution or completion of an alternative sentencing program. Several people plead guilty, so I saw the process that follows that. A few people were released after time served in the county jail since arrest and agreeing to pay court costs. It looked as if there would be two or three bench trials that afternoon, but I couldn't stick around that long. My accompanying classmate, Jon, and I left at lunch recess. It was, indeed, an interesting experience and one that excites me for what's to come this summer.
So... this summer. It looks like I'll be interning in the prosecutor's office in the county where my grandparents live during the second half of the summer! It's an unpaid position, but I look forward to soaking up some rich experiences in the courtroom and spending some quality time with my grandparents during my six weeks there. I came to law school with the thought of practicing estate planning; I never imagined that I'd go into criminal law and I'm still not committing myself to anything. However, my IT career put me nearly half-way through the thirty years of State service required to retire with full benefits, so the thought of going back into State service after law school, finishing my thirty years, and walking out the door with pension and health insurance at age 55 is very attractive. I wouldn't be limited to working as a prosecutor, either. Several (but not all) of NC's judicial districts have public defenders. All of NC's public universities have a University Counsel, and tons of attorneys work in the NC Department of Justice, as that department handles litigation for all state agencies. It's quite likely that a return to State service is in my future.
My internship is the second half of the summer. During the first half, I'm going to Europe to take UNCG's culture and conversation course in Madrid for a month and then spend a couple of weeks visiting friends in France and Italy. Of course, I'm looking forward to my trip to Europe, but I also can't wait to return to my internship!
For better or worse, Chris will be working in Maryland all summer. That'll be good because he'll be away from home himself, which might keep his mind off of the fact that I'm away, too. He'll also be able to spend time with and become better acquainted with some of our friends in that area and the area itself, which has always held some appeal for me. His being away could be bad because he might get bored living in a hotel room for months. But, we've survived his previous travels for work and it has real benefits, so we'll get through it this summer, too.
So, there's a nutshell update. There's no rest for the weary, as I have a 15-page Motion for Summary Judgment to crank out this weekend. For those not in the law, summary judgment is a decision about the case based on the facts as presented to the court in pre-trial documents; the facts are undisputed and so clear that a trial is not necessary. (It's the job of the jury in a jury trial or of the judge in a bench trial to decide the facts -- basically, who has the more compelling story or who's telling the truth.) The movant (party making the motion) is asking the court to rule as a matter of law; the only question to be resolved is how the law applies to the facts, which is always the job of the judge. Summary judgment is much quicker and much less expensive than a trial, so is often viewed as a preferred method of resolving cases. Woo-hoo!
So, I'm off to summary judgment land! Don't worry; I won't send a postcard. :J
Note: I wrote this entry shortly before Christmas, but waited until now (a month later) to post it so that revealing the details of my computer SNAFU during exams wouldn't violate my school's honor code, which requires anonymity in exam grading. :J
Exams actually got off to a quite exciting start. As I rebooted my computer to take my very first law school exam, Windows flaked out on me and I had to hand-write my exam! For some unknown reason, Windows Vista had suddenly decided that my license was no longer valid and locked me out of most functionality, generously allowing me into my Web browser where I could buy a new license for $215. After four hours on the phone with Costco and HP, a crying fit, several nights of fitful sleep, and worrying at least an hour or two off of the end of my life, I was no closer to a solution. With a functional browser, I was able to send my crucial documents to myself in e-mail and download them onto a flash drive via my desktop computer, which allowed me to continue studying at home and in the lab at school. I borrowed a computer from school for my second exam. I finally faced reality and hit the virtual reset button, restoring my hard drive to its factory condition. I took my other exams on my own computer, but spent two full days reinstalling all of my software and readjusting my configurations.
Through all of this trauma, Costco (which offers limited support for computers that it sells and whose staff was great) and HP were very helpful. I got bubkes from Miscrosoft, though. Even HP got from Microsoft the same run-around as I and I never spoke to anyone at Miscrosoft whom I felt could have helped me with my problem, if they understood what it was. To add insult to injury, I would have had to pay $59 to speak to anyone beyond the guy that could only take my credit card information in exchange for a new license key.
All's well now, but I wonder... when it comes time for me to buy a new computer, will I join the ranks of the millions of Mac users and housekeeper that declare, "I don't do Windows?" :J
