Song Lineup #1

The first couple of times I saw the TV spots for Charlie St. Cloud, I dismissed it as sappy and refocused all of my energies back into figuring out what just happened in Lost before the commercial break. And then they hit me with the commercial featuring "Airplanes" by B.o.B and Hayley Williams. I didn't know the name of the song at the time, so I wrote the movie name on a post-it along with the note "look up song on trailer". Two months later, I find the post-it again, look it up on youtube, sift through several trailers to find out what I was referring to, find the song, and develop an urge to see the movie when it comes out later this summer.

That 25 second trailer was powerful stuff. Good. Job.

Below is the playlist I'm working with right now. "Airplanes" is in the final running for summer theme song, as is "Shake Me Like a Monkey" by Dave Matthews Band. Yes, there is a disproportionate representation of Dave Matthews/Dave Matthews Band songs ;) I'm always looking for more musix, I'd love más suggestions.

Jean Piaget

So Piaget said that all the world's a stage, and we have a face that we wear onstage and a face that we have offstage. The problem that a lot of people have with his theory is: if we're playing the "daughter", the "employee", or the "husband", then who are we when we're done playing those characters? Are none of those people the real you?

I think the world is a little kid who likes fish, and you are the aquarium. The face you put on is the filter. You are always the aquarium, but if your filter sucks, the kid gets grossed out by the muck that builds up inside the tank. The trouble is to filter well, and to let people see what's most essential about you. The nasty habits, the laziness, jealousy, selfishness, insecurity, etc. that might be taken as "well that's who I am"--it's what's blocking the kid from seeing the fish because there is so much algae and grossness.

A filter that doesn't function is useless. A filter that overdoes what it's supposed to do is also terrible. Imagine a filter that also deposits chlorine and bleach into a tank periodically. It kills the fish, makes it an uninhabitable sort of place to be in.

Functioning filters are important.

Request for employers: interviewing etiquette?

I understand that as an employer, you have the superpower of assigning internships and jobs to any candidate at your discretion. I also understand that in recession-times/in the aftermath of a recession, unfavorable circumstances exist for job candidates--the entry level jobs offered to recent college graduates may be rescinded. Not only does it negatively impact that class--the class of 2009, for example, but it also has unfavorable outcomes for the following class, which must compete with the graduates from last year. Twice as many candidates competing for the same number of jobs, assuming that these entry level jobs are now being reinstated, now that the recession looks like it is drawing back. With so many qualified college graduates competing for these paid and unpaid jobs--and willing to work full-time--undergraduates looking for paying jobs and internships are also left to deal with a difficult situation.

But that's not the complaint. These circumstances are not under anyone's control. What the employer can do, however, is treat each candidate courteously and understand that time is incredibly important for these job-seekers. If you are not looking to hire a student, let them know as soon as this is apparent to you. The student can then move on and look at other places of employment instead of waiting idly. If you are looking to rescind an offer, please do it ASAP as well--I can imagine how painful it would be to have been offered a job in January, and find out in May, as you are graduating, that the offer no longer holds. Five months that could have been spent sending out cover letters and resumes are no longer there and he/she graduates unemployed.

My story isn't too bad but I'm feeling tinges of annoyance. I already have a terrific internship, but I saw an opportunity to intern at a terrific organization in the city and I applied last minute on the off chance that I would end up spending one or two days a week working there. The managing director of the program emailed me and asked to schedule an interview. After a week of back and forth emails, she finally agrees to do a phone interview with me. I do the usual prep, read all of the reports and whatnot written on the website, imagine what I could do for the place if I worked there, etc. I set aside a good hour and half block of time for the thing, and ask that another phone call that I had to take to be moved to later time that day. I forgo lunch. I get psyched. I wait at my desk. Five minutes go by... she's a little late. That's to be expected. Another ten minutes go by... okay, she may be preoccupied with other business. Twenty minutes. Alright? Am I sure I got the time right? It was ridiculous. I waited an hour for the call (she specifically told me that she would call me when I asked her how I could reach her) and finally stopped waiting for the call. I took my other call, ate lunch, went running, ran some errands, and obvi wrote a blog entry, and let me tell you I have not gotten an email or a call from the director yet.

If the director had emailed me directly and said that she already filled the position, however abruptly and rudely done, I would have preferred it to this. I wasted a good amount of time and rearranged my schedule to fit hers and if she had no intention whatsoever of hiring me/calling me, the "easy way out" shouldn't be faking an interview date with me. I may only be a college student, but this epitomizes a complete lack of consideration for others. I hate how there never seems to be a solution to the situations when the candidate is put in a disagreeable position. I browsed google to see if anyone else had faced this problem--and sure enough, a good number of anecdotes showed me that this situation was common enough and nothing worth fuming over for too long. But as for revenge/relief, there doesn't seem to be much. Who knows where an angry letter will end up? Those hours are gone, might as well move on and do something else. Eff professionalism and all of its boundaries.

What Is The Ceiling Made Out Of?

The Court Life #1

Women attorneys are a minority presence in the courts. It was particularly noticeable when I watched the judge conference with attorneys handling 325Ds (cases with suits >$25,000 that are referred to the civil courts by the Supreme Court). Out of the 30 sets of cases that came up, each with one or two attorneys on each plaintiff/defendant side, I only saw one female lawyer.

While many female lawyers may decide to focus on their families after spending several years working at a law firm, this decision does not account for the huge disparity in numbers of women who are partners and men who are partners. Instead, the policies and general atmosphere that law firms have in place discourage many women from keeping their jobs at the firm. That only 20% of partners are females, while the number of males and females graduating from law school are 50/50, is upsetting.

Maternity leave: Law firms are incredibly strict with time allotted for maternity leave--because what are you going to do? sue the law firm if you don't the time off they will allot to you? Here's a story I heard from a law student: a female lawyer came in and told her boss that she was pregnant. He looked at her in utter confusion, as if to say, "Why on earth would you choose to be pregnant?" She quickly says, "I only want one week maternity leave. I will work up until the day that I am in labor, I will take one week off after I give birth, and then I will be back on my Blackberry and laptop at the end of that week, working from home for a week or two." Her boss looks at her hard. Fortunately, he decides to agree to this plan of action.

Interaction with other attorneys: While males who speak candidly and take drinks with their co-workers are simple having a good time, a female attorney who does the same may be perceived as flirtatious. A female attorney who does not interact with her male coworkers and bosses in a frank way misses out on a great number of opportunities. Catch-22. Regardless of how she acts, her male counterparts have developed an annoying habit of winking at her. If she does make it and break through a couple of ceilings and floors, she will find that it lonely at the top. The number of women in her rank drops steadily as she ascends. There are few female mentors/role models/female leaders in place to advise her as she climbs.

One floor, two ceilings: The Vance Center's report, "Best Practices for the Hiring, Training, Retention and Advancement of Women Attorneys", says that women of color have an even harder time rising to partner status in firms. Discouraged by all of the factors that prevent women from rising, as well as all of the factors that work against a person of color from advancing, the report says that most women of color will leave the law firm after seven years. Almost all will leave after eight years.

What can a woman do? Without changing the institution itself, there are two options. One, mentioned above, is to settle down after a few years and leave the firm. The other is to sacrifice, endure, and keep organized. Female attorneys have headed families--it can be done. However, recent literature holds up Sonia Sotomayor, who is divorced and has no children, and Elena Kagen, who has never married, as the types of women who will be able to rise to the top.

How can the institution be changed? Law firms do not benefit from losing their employees-when an attorney resigns, their clients, cases, etc. disappear as well. The report by the Vance Center estimated that firms lose $500,000 when an attorney resigns.

In light of that fact, I asked a few female law students casually if they thought things might change over the next thirty years for women, just as things have changed dramatically for female attorneys over the last thirty years (not necessarily for the better). They smile and shake their heads, resigned to what's ahead. "Probably not."

Certified Orgo

To keep myself from going insane in times of extreme work, I have a good number of de-stress activities. When I am not pulling all-nighters and am eating regularly, I run a mile or two daily. I read some non-fiction fun before going to sleep. I watch television on Hulu, the guilt of procrastination alleviated by the reflection in my mirror that tells me my roommate is doing the same thing behind me.

I also find that taking some time to nurture something each day diverts me from the path to overworked-depression. Since we're not allowed to have pets in the dorms, and I had not handled the deaths of my last two fish-companions very well, I keep a potted plant with me instead. I grow a lot of my herbs and flowers out of seed babies and the joy of stumbling back into the room after a long day of classes + work and finding little leaflets popping out of the soil is insurmountable. When deprived of live baby animals to cuddle with, I hover over and adore my plants. I think Japan may have gotten it right when it started building cat cafes because I might be turning into the crazy-plant-lady. Not an improvement over cats.

Today, I bought a couple of plants to add to the organic garden collection in my backyard. We have a single strawberry plant, grown from a miniscule strawberry seed baby. It has five leaves right now. I adore it so much even though it's puny.

I started up another pumpkin patch this year. The roots look weak though, I need to do something about that.

Cucumber plant.

Just bought two potted eggplant plants today.

And a pepper plant.

Fabrics of a Suburban June

At the end of my run today, I tipped my head up toward the sky and saw gorgeous pinks and purples, like a painter's revenge swipe on an otherwise gray sky. I ran to get my camera and try to capture the sunset to the best of my ability, but the image quality hasn't been so great ever since I spilled some 'punch' on the thing.

Look up.



Made of red velvet.



These were raised from seed babies.



Mirages.



I see you every day.





In the middle of nowhere.