Fretting the Small Stuff

Lawyers aren't all jackasses.

In a weak moment, I decided to sign The Prof and me up to mentor a child who had resided in a shelter at some point in her young life.  This mentoring program is through the local bar association and for some reason I felt compelled to do it.  I think part of the reason is that I work with the population that lives for some period of time in a shelter.  Typically, I don't interact with children and it seemed right to spend time with one child who could use a positive adult in her life.  Two weeks ago, I met our little charge without the Prof as he needed to be out of town.  She was and is a handful but that is okay, after all she is only six and her short life has not been an easy one.  Slowly we got to know each other and she tested my limits.  After the meeting, I wondered what the hell I signed myself up for but reminded myself: I have it easy.  I have both my parents still, they are married after 51 years, and I have a happy marriage, a house, and a stable income. 

Last night, we met her again.  And you know what?  She LOVED The Prof.  I, on the other hand, was old hat and a boring uptight poo poo head.  The Prof asked her about school, talked about the planets, and she wanted to know all about science.  After we finished our project, she held our hands as we looked at all the interesting pots and plates others had painted.  At one point, she asked The Prof to pick her up and he gladly scooped her up.  The two of them chatted and I could tell...she was smitten. 

I think this will be a positive experience for all three of us but perhaps more so for our little friend and The Prof.

Sense of Pride

As an attorney, I am a member of our local and state bar associations.  It's not required but why wouldn't I join?  I get discounts on continuing legal education (snore) and we have fun things like law prom and....open bars at the functions!  However, as a member, besides taking advantage of free drinks and fancy events, I do participate in something I greatly enjoy.  After taking the bar and before I found a job, I volunteered at the humane society (shocking) and a refugee relocation agency (RRA).  At the RRA, I tutored refugees in English.  These individuals came from all parts of the world with shocking and amazing and heartwarming stories.  I worked within the class assisting the teacher, an amazing and dynamic man, and I tutored individuals who needed a little extra help.  Never did I realize I would love something as much.  There was one woman in particular who will stay with me forever.  She looked older than her stated age and she had lived in Kenyan refugee camps as a Bantu Somali since the early 1990's.  When she lived in Somalia, her husband was murdered and the scar left with this woman is deep.  However, I was able to get through to her and even received an invitation to Eid ul Fitr at her house.   When I began working,  I had to stop volunteering as I didn't have any time in my new schedule. 

In order to reconnect with this experience, I volunteered to be part of the new citizenship committee at the bar association.  The responsibilities are quite simple: attend one of four swearing in ceremonies at the federal courthouse, give some brief remarks, and hand out American flag pins.  I've only participated once before.  I didn't exactly prepare a speech ahead of time, shocking...me not prepared?  Procrastinating?  Never!  However, I used my experiences at RRA to hopefully inspire and commend everyone for their varying degrees of struggles to become a United States citizen.  Additionally, I practically begged them to vote and take jury duty as an important responsibility.  So I did the same, I stumbled a bit, at one point I thought I would get teary, but there was one woman in the audience who kept smiling and nodding her head.  That got me through the speech.

Most everyone had a prepared speech and quoted our founding fathers, emphasized the importance of the constitution, or talked about the Revolutionary War.  You see, that's not my thang.  As usual, I like to make it personal.  Instead, I spent more time discussing how amazing they all are for doing all this work to become citizens.  At some point, I nearly choked up (don't tell) and I had to pause.  I didn't look at my notes, I looked at them.  I wished I could have made eye contact with every one of them during my speech but instead I shook their hand and smiled like a complete goofball.  If I had known how much I enjoyed teaching and tutoring English as a Second Language, I might have taken a different path. 

If you ever have a chance, watch the Citizenship Swearing in Ceremony.  I promise that you won't regret it.  And I wonder if any of the new citizens are from Taiwan. 

Greener Grass

Last night I was a guest speaker in my coworker and friend's business law class at an undergraduate institution.  I spoke about my area of the law and blabbered on for almost an hour.  Fortunately, I did not complete bore them and I received positive feedback.  Of course that left me with the itch for teaching.  Before getting this position, I searched and searched for an academic position.  There are five universities in the region and every day I looked at their websites hoping I would find the perfect position.  I applied for a few but none of them panned out.  Either I had too much experience or not enough.  It happens.  I have always thought I would want to teach in a college.  I imagine myself in a liberal arts school or university discussing different theories of feminism in the classroom and encouraging critical thinking.  I even imagined what I would wear!  Yes, I know, shallow but whatever.  I would be that funky glasses wearing professor whose office you could stop by and discuss your future and the merits of post-modernist feminist theory versus cultural feminism.  But that hasn't happened or at least it has not happened yet.  So how will I satisfy this urge to corrupt educate young minds?  This Sunday I will put together a nice resume with a cover letter and send it out to all the local universities for the fall semester.  It can't hurt right?  And of course it would be adjunct teaching.  Not only would I be able to teach but I would have some much needed extra cash in my pocket!  Does anyone have any advice in this matter?  I would listen but perhaps not necessarily take it.  After all, I am difficult in that way.