Not that my hiatus was planned (really, it wasn’t!). But, I’ll try to catch up a little with some commentary and links on things that might be a little old, but still good to check out.
Some stuff to note, because around here at triscribe, we’re APA’s and we’re lawyers:
The first Asian American woman elected to be mayor of Oakland: Jean Quan. PBS Newshour had an interesting interview with her and coverage on the format of election in Oakland (rank-choice voting – almost a little Round Robin with ranking you 1st choice each round). Oakland has problems to overcome (high crime, poor economy), in addition to its interesting demographics.
The new White House Chief of Staff, Pete Rouse, is part Asian-American, via his mother, a Nisei. Meanwhile, I’m not sure how ex-White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is pulling off the race for Chicago mayor election, but good luck! Saturday Night Live won’t be the same without SNL Alternate Rahm.
Karin Wong of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center raises interesting points about Asian American legal history, on the Angry Asian Man blog.
I’ve seen others share this Slate article, and I’m passing it along: “A Case of Supply v. Demand: Law schools are manufacturing more lawyers than America needs, and law students aren’t happy about it,” by Annie Lowrey. The headline doesn’t quite do justice to the issue, though; there are unemployed or underemployed lawyers who are frustrated that law schools are producing more lawyers, since the law students will eventually compete with them (who already are bar-admitted…) for employment. At least, that’s what I noticed from conversations – anecdotal info don’t quite compare to the stats, I guess. But, frustration is out there. How to resolve it is another story.
I thought this Yahoo post was interesting: NBA player Ben Wallace is looking to one day transition to become a law student and join us lawyers. I mean, Shaquille O’Neal has a law enforcement alternative path, and if Ben Wallace is serious about law school – maybe the NBA isn’t completely pointless (to me, anyway; I believe a bunch of NFL alumni are lawyers and judges).
NaNoWriMo got in the NY Times op-ed last month. Thought it was pretty cool. I especially liked this line about the point of NaNoWriMo (besides the challenge of writing a novel in a month): “It’s also the pleasure of belonging, for a month, to a community that puts the lie to the myth of the lonely writer.”
James “You’re Beautiful” Blunt may have prevented World War III, way back in 1999, when he was in the British Army? Guess I can’t listen to the song the same way anymore.
I don’t listen to NPR on radio, but I have gotten into listening or reading on NPR things on the NPR website:
If you’ve got a half hour to listen to something fascinating and you’re a Founding Fathers (and Mothers) history buff, this NPR thing was great stuff. The interview/coverage of Joseph Ellis’ new book o the Adams’ marriage was fascinating. Joseph Ellis is also quite the writer/historian; I’d recommend reading anything he writes. The John and Abigail Adams story is just amazing.
This particular item is so precious and precocious: Former US Poet Laureate Billy Collins and his now-4 year old fan. It is funny and sweet!
Plus, really awesome stuff on NPR, with this interview with Garry Trudeau and his 40 years of Doonesbury! I enjoyed the reflecting on the characters’ development – Mike, B.D. (the helmet! the losing of the helmet! the losing of his leg!), and Joanie. The interview didn’t touch on, say, Zonker and Uncle Duke (wonder if he’s behind the crazy 2010 election commercials; Uncle Duke is THAT crazy), but it was still awesome. The Slate interview with Trudeau was also cool.
The story of the 101 year old woman who got her US citizenship was heart-warming.
Eventually, I will have to do a post on the fall 2010 tv. Eventually…