f/k/a . . .

(larger) Lawrence the Indian (of pink flamingo fame) is decked out again this Spring in tulips, in his traffic circle, at Front, Green and Ferry Sts., in Schenectady’s Historic Stockade District. Read more about Lawrence here. (Stockade tulip photos by D. Giacalone, May 2008) Many thanks to Stockade resident Jennifer Wells, of Stockade Lawn and Gardens, for all the “pro bono” work she does planting and caring for flowers and decorative plantings throughout our neighborhood.

update (May 10, 2008): This cheery tulip display called to me while I was strolling up N. Ferry St. this afternoon. Located behind 14 N. Ferry, it simply couldn’t be ignored. [larger here]

………………………………………. click to see them in context:

first-date stroll
April tulips
still closed tight

.. by dagosan

A couple blocks away, in Riverside Park along the Mohawk River, slightly-past-peak tulips sway in the wind while overlooking the Isle of the Cayugas (larger).

blustery day
one tulip
keeps his head

………….. by David Giacalone, Simply Haiku, Autumn 2007, vol 5 no 3

[larger; uncropped]

come on,
you’ve got to see the . . .
!!! decapitated tulips !!!

….. by dagosan

Missed already. The First Reform Church tulips we showed you (along with our cherry blossoms) on April 24, 2008 (larger), have already lost their heads and have been replaced.

Despite their transient nature, tulips and their spirit live on in haiku. Here are a bed-full by members of the f/k/a family of poets:

darkening clouds
I press cold earth
on tulip bulbs

………. by Laryalee Fraser - The Heron’s Nest X:1 (March 2008)

shuttered room;
I enter
with tulips

…. by paul m. - finding the way (Press Here, 2002)

trespassing –
three tulips
in an unkempt yard

eighth day of rain
dandelion clocks
taller than the tulips

….. by dagosan

(orig.)

sudden storm
the tulips
brim over

… by matt morden from Morden Haiku (May 8, 2006)

Arlington
the tulips
wide open

….. by Carolyn Hall - The Heron’s Nest Vol. VII -

- haiga: poem by David Giacalone, photo by Arthur Giacalone, at Highland Park, Rochester, NY.

. . . Albany [NY] will be celebrating its 60th Annual Tulip Festival this weekend, May 9 - 11, 2008, in Washington Park. The Festival has “over 200,000 tulip bulbs blossom[ing] into a sea of colors just in time for Mothers Day.” Friday evening (tonight, May 9) will introduce “Night Fire, a unique art-installation of the elements involving local artists and community partners to create a special 60th anniversary ceremony.” Read about Night Fire in “Artwork of fire, water for city’s 60th Tulipfest: Burning steel sculpture in Washington Park Lake will be center of “Night Fire” event” (Albany Times Union, Feb. 5, 2008); and “Festival flambe” (TU, May 8, 2008).

. . ….. . . update (May 10, 2008): At the Times Union photogallery, you’ll find impressive photos of the Night Fire windmill burning and the resulting steel tulip. (purchase them at the TU Online Store.)  Even better (6 PM): Here’s a two-minute video clip from WRGB.com, Channel 6 in Albany, which includes Night Fire burning, plus some gorgeous tulips.

Click this link for some great TU readers’ photos of the Albany tulips in Washington Park.

. . .

-Haiga: poem by david giacalone; photo by Arthur Giacalone; orig. posted at MagnaPoets Japanese Form, May 22, 2007.

sunny morning —
pink tulips in bloom
on the preschool’s walls

.. by Billie Wilson - Haiku Harvest (Spring 2001)

- don’t forget our f/k/a Mother’s Day Haiku Collection (originally posted May 10, 2007).

preview (May 10, 2008): Some time soon, we’ll feature lilacs again.  They inspired dagosan today at his little weblog.

Head over to the f/k/a Mother’s Day Haiku Collection (originally posted May 10, 2007), if you’re looking for haiku and senryu for a Mother’s Day card. There are dozens of poems (not all sappy or saccharine), including this pair:

orig. haiga at MagnaPoets (May 10, 2007)

grayskies
on mother’s day -
grandma’s favorite park

poem: david giacalone; photo: arthur giacalone

i follow her recipe,
but something’s missing…
mother’s day

……. by ed markowski

Here are three from the new edition of Upstate Dim Sum:

calling home
the color of mother’s voice
before her words

………………… by Hilary Tann - Upstate Dim Sum (Vol. 2008/1)
orig. pub. The Heron’s Nest IX:4; also “dust of summers: RMA 2007”

watching a rerun
my granddaughter
in my daughter’s arms

……… by Yu Chang - Upstate Dim Sum (Vol. 2008/1)
orig. pub. Frogpond XXXI:1 (Winter 2008)

winter sky –
an empty nest
left behind

. . . . by Tom Clausen - Upstate Dim Sum (Vol. 2008/1)

update (May 11, 2008): See our post “outcry earns a reprieve for Schenectady’s Library” (May 11, 2008), which explains new plans by County officials to ask for alternative renovation bids that hopefully would reduce disruptions in service at the Central Library.

Despite our relief, I hope many concerned citizens will attend the County Legislature’s May Meeting Tuesday at 7 PM, to let them know that their first approach was totally unacceptable — both the lack of public input and the lack of respect for the Library and its users — and that our leaders are, at best, on probation and will be monitored closely by the Library’s friends.

Many thanks to all the members of the public, including the Friends of Schenectady Public Library, who quickly and effectively put pressure on County officials to reverse their disastrous plan.

Update & Notice (May 10, 2008): County Legislature May Meeting: Members of the public will have the opportunity to speak their minds about closing the Library during its renovation on Tuesday, May 13, at 7 PM, at the County Legislature’s monthly meeting (held at the County Office Building, 620 State St., 6th Floor). However the May Meeting Agenda does not contain any resolution concerning the Library expansion project, and no formal action can be taken on that topic. The agenda is quite lengthy, so there will be a long wait before the floor is opened to the public for general comments.

Compromise Plan: It appears that County leaders (e.g., Kathy Rooney the County Manager, Susan Savage, Legislative Chair, and Gary Hughes, chair of the Legislature’s Library Committee) have heard the public outcry and are working on a compromise plan that would improve the way the Library’s current building is used (e.g., putting public space on the 2nd floor), and replace the operating systems, without changing the current shell of the building, and in a manner that will greatly reduce the period(s) in which the building will need to be closed. I have no idea how the Legislature could be accepting bids — or contractors crafting their bids — on the project before the revised plan is adopted.

Rally Against Closing the Library: There will be a rally and or march against closing the Library on Monday and/or Tuesday, May 12 or 13, which will originate at the Central Library — probably around 11 Am. As soon as I have more details, I shall post them here. update (May 11, 2008): As of 10 AM, Sundy, I do not know whether there will be a No Close rally.

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it.” . . . Upton Sinclair, US novelist, investigative journalist & socialist politician (1878 - 1968)

There are times when the inane actions of our local “leaders” or our justice system here in Schenectady County [NY] leave me merely amused or bemused — affectionately shaking my head, as I often do over the foibles or feeble-mindedness of relatives and friends. But, there are other times — as with my sustained objection to sex offender residency restrictions — when I am truly outraged by the combination of duplicity, incompetence and high-handed arrogance that leads to inexplicably dreadful decisions by our so-called civil servants and political leaders.

The totally-unexpected announcement last week (after years of “planning”) that our Central library would shortly have to close for 18 months, due to the expansion and reconstruction of the building, clearly calls for outrage rather than bemusement.

See “Library to shut during project: Trustees: Closure will make expansion quicker, cheaper” (Schenectady Daily Gazette, by Kathleen Moore, May 1, 2008).

As I have already left rather tart Comments online about the closing in response to this, and this, and that Gazette article, I shall attempt to be more dispassionate in this posting, despite my frustration.

At the bottom of this posting (under the fold, if you are reading this from our homepage), I’ve listed the major articles, editorials and Letters to the Editor about the library closing that have appeared in the Daily Gazette since the “plan” was announced publicly five days ago. I’ve included particularly illuminating quotes from each piece. In addition you can find continuing coverage and comments about the library closing at Schenectady’s Virtual Internet Community, and the Rotterdam NY Internet Community website. The f/k/a Gang will attempt to keep that list up to date as this story unfolds.

Want to express an opinion to our elected or appointed officials? Click here for the Schenectady County Government website, and here for contact information on our County Legislators. Library contact information is here.

Members of Friends of the Schenectady Public Library have responded quickly and forcefully to this crisis. See, e.g., “Library closure plan draws fire” (Daily Gazette, by Michael Lamendola, May 6, 2008); and “Speak out against plan to close Sch’dy library” (Letter to the Editor, Daily Gazette, by John Karl, May 6, 2008). The Library has attempted to diminish the importance of the closing by noting that while 1400 people use the Central Library every day, a mere 10% of that “traffic” comes from the downtown 12305 zip code, where the Library is located. (Their implication, I guess, is that since the others are driving to the Central Library, they can just drive to a nearby branch. For the record, I live a mile from the Central Library and go there almost every day. It will cost me about $2 in gas to go instead to the nearest non-tiny branch.)

In an Op/Ed piece on Sunday, Phil Sheehan did a good job showing how bogus those numbers are. See “18-month library shutdown a major disservice” (Daily Gazette, May 4, 2008) However, even if the 1400 average daily traffic number is accurate (measuring all those who come to the Library, and not just those who use their card), it is an impressive number. Fourteen hundred people is 1% of Schenectady County’s population, which was 144,000 as of 2005. One percent of our population goes to the Central Library every day.

How important is the Central Library to the Schenectady County Public Library system? SCPL has ten branches/locations. Nevertheless, according to the Library’s 2007 Annual Report, last year (using my math and their numbers) the Central Library accounted for:

• 44% of total circulation to Patrons
• and 42% of total circulation to other libraries
• 55% of all Adult library volumes; and 32% of the more widely spread juvenile volumes

• 71% of all Reference services provided
• 83% of all Adult Programs offered, and almost 92% of all attendees at adult programs

• In addition, there were 152,606 visits to the Central Library’s Technology Center in 2007 (averaging over 430 persons per day).

Clearly, as should be obvious even without culling the statistics, the Central Library plays a key role in achieving SCPL’s Mission, which is:

“. . . to satisfy our community’s educational informational, cultural and recreational needs by providing free and open access to a comprehensive range of materials, services and programs.”

As “citizen” Library Trustee John Karl aptly noted in voicing his opposition to the closing: The operation of the Central Library “is the most cost-effective and efficient service in the whole county.” Deciding to close the vital heart (and lungs and brain) of the County’s library system is such a bad idea that even a cynic has a hard time imagining what was going on in the minds of the politicians and bureaucrats responsible for the idea. I’m willing to believe that Library Director Andy Kulmatiski was told “endorse, fight for, and implement the 18-month closing or lose your job.” (Thus, as Upton Sinclair predicted, making it hard for Andy to “understand” the uproar of his staff and the community.) But, for the life of me, I can’t even guess what motives could possibly be behind such lousy policy coming from our County Government.

Despite the failure to reverse similar lame-brained and force-fed schemes concocted by our “leaders” (particularly Susan Savage, the Chair of the County Legislature), I’m hopeful that a combination of political courage (there’s gotta be one Democratic on the Legislature with a little backbone) and public outcry will somehow bring about a far more palatable solution.

In closing, some schadenfreude: This book might make you feel a little better about our plight in Schenectady County: It’s Nancy Alonso’s Closed for Repairs, with 11 short stories about conditions in Castro’s Cuba.

my children
don’t want to stop
historical market

… by Tom Clausen - Upstate Dim Sum (Vol. 2008/1)

Some Upstate Dim Sum might be your best bet for local (haiku) culture, if the Central Library does close (and even if it stays open). UDS is a “biannual anthology of haiku and senryu,” published by the Route 9 Haiku Group, which is comprised of four well-known haiku poets who live in Upstate New York. Two of the members, Hilary Tann and Yu Chang are professors at Union College.

The newest issue of Upstate Dim Sum (Vol. 2008/1) came in the mail this afternoon. Here are three poems each from Yu and from Hilary:

old farmer
his gift to his widow
a blueberry field

mid-October
choosing a warm spot
to wait for your call

late night ice cream
our cat licks
around the spoon

….. by Hilary Tann - from Upstate Dim Sum (Vol. 2008/1)

end of the storm
sunlight returns
to the kitchen

Indian summer
chocolate kisses
on my cheek

white chopping board
beet greens
in a pool of red

………. by Yu Chang - from Upstate Dim Sum (Vol. 2008/1)

- - Below [click “more” if you are on the f/k/a homepage] you will find links to articles and opinion from the Schenectady Daily and Sunday Gazette, and other source, concerning the closing of the Central Library, along with excerpts from the pieces. –

(more…)

Another Boomer Braino Revealed: The f/k/a Gang had planned to start each month of 2008 by posting the month’s calendar page from both of our 2008 haiga calendars — the artsy Giacalone Haiga Calendar 2008 and the nostalgic fka Haiga Memories Calendar 2008. But, frankly, we keep forgetting to post them. Here — better a little late than never — are the calendar pages for May. Each month has a “photo haiga” — a picture with a subtly-linked haiku.

You can click on the sample calendar pages below to go to a full-size page suitable for printing. Or, see a larger version of each original haiga by clicking here (for “fresh graves”) and there (for “mother’s day”).

Rather than rely on the memory-challenged f/k/a Gang to bring you each month’s calendar page, we suggest you click the links above to obtain printable versions of each complete haiga calendar (see our prior post from last December for descriptions and links).

fresh graves
for civilians -
gang colors everywhere

……. by dagosan

dad on the sofa,
mom at the stove —
it’s mother’s day

…………………… by dagosan

p.s. On a more serious note, see Geoffrey Rapps’s post “They Shoot Horses Don’t They” at Sports Law Blog (May 4, 2008; hat tip to Ed at Blawg Review), which notes that runner-up Eight Belles broke both ankles and had to be put down at the end of yesterday’s Kentucky Derby.  He points to Kentucky’s Cruelty to Animals Statute, and says:

“Imagine if every year, one player died in the Superbowl. Or if a player died every year during the NBA finals. Would we tolerate such a result? Should it matter that the athletes who are pushed beyond the quite literal breaking point are animals?”

fruitstand apples-
the rich smell of horses
on my hands

by Billie Wilson  : HSA Northwest Region Members’ Anthology, 2000

the great lord
forced off his horse…
cherry blossoms

is that dew
the horse’s tears?
rice blossoms

………. by Kobayashi Issa , translated by David G. Lanoue

What sort of materials and links do your friends and colleagues forward to you? Sometimes, when I see what kith and kin decide to send me in their email messages, I worry about my image and reputation. Although most correspondents have learned not to send me cute-pet photos, or to point me to so-called-haiku contests, I often get referred to articles that make me wince — with thoughts like: “this reminded her of me?!” or “am I supposed to need this advice?”

For example, my dear friend and much-honored Washington lawyer-poet Roberta Beary often passes on links about unhappy and depressed lawyers. And three days ago, she sent me a link to the Washington Post article “Nap Time” (April 29, 2008).

tired of feeding
on the horse
the horsefly naps

afternoon nap
our bare bottoms
kiss

…….. by David G. Lanoue - Dewdrop World (2005)

In a nation where naps are traditionally associated with small children and old folks, I had to wonder what makes me the target of a “Nap Time” piece? Why would the topic of naps make a talented, attractive, charismatic woman think of me? Slowly, of course, my paranoia (and fantasies) died down, and I recalled just how often I mention naps and napping at this weblog, and post haiku and senryu on the topic. See, for instance:

• Our posting “nap room ethics for lawyers” (Aug. 22, 2007) where we discussed David Lat’s posting at Above the Law about corporate napping, as described in the NYT article “That Yawn After Lunch Is Perfectly Normal” (New York Times, Aug. 19, 2007). While Lat asked “Biglaw Perk Watch: Nap Rooms?”, we opined:

With the snowballing Graying of the Bar, and the ethical duty of law firms to protect clients by putting into place procedures that will help compensate for the age-related physical and mental problems of older lawyers [see my article “No Senior Discount at the Ethics Bar” (The Complete Lawyer, Vol. 3 #4, July-August 2007)], it appears to be an ethical violation not to furnish nap rooms for attorneys at any firm with Boomers and other Geezers on the roster. Throw in Americans with Disabilities Act arguments, and age discrimination/EEOC issues, and we have the makings of a great cross-generational campaign to make sure lawyers can nap in comfort and without stigma in law firms across the nation. So, get to it Lat et al, your elders are here with moral support and all the mentoring you need (right after our afternoon nap, of course).

• And the piece “naps and curses: horizontal punditry” (June 6, 2007), where the f/k/a Gang momentarily came out of a sleepy punditry hiatus to note that Bob Ambrogi of LegalBlogWatch had put the spotlight on “A New Zealand law firm that encourages its professionals to take naps if they are sleepy” — you see, the firm Meredith Connell had just won the country’s top work-life balance award, “offering workers flexible work hours to take account of personal commitments.”

within the red wine
a nap in my chair

Discovery channel –
an older male vanquished
heads for the hills

… by Tom Clausen - Upstate Dim Sum (2003/II)

Suddenly, and especially after reading the WaPo article, I was beaming. Roberta didn’t think I was over the hill and needed more naps or another rocking chair. She was reaffirming my being ahead of the curve (due, frankly, to the lessons learned living with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) on the importance of napping to an enlightened and efficient life and career.

That’s it: In his article, “Nap Time: Though the Practice Is Fading in Some Places, Experts Find Benefits In Midday Slumber. And a Few Firms Are Even Open to Shut-Eye,” Dennis Drabelle merely updates and expands upon themes we’ve been raising and endorsing for years here at f/k/a. Now, I feel a whole lot better (or, I will, as soon as I finish this long posting and head to my futon for a tardy mid-morning nap).

afternoon nap
i fall asleep
in a dream

………… by Ed Markowski

Drabelle has, indeed, done a good job of highlighting the new wisdom about napping. After noting that his own former nap resistance “put me in sync with the American way of sleep: Do it all at once and strictly at night,” he explains:

“Traditionally, we’ve begrudged ourselves naps. They may be forced on toddlers, recommended for pregnant women and tolerated among senior citizens with nothing better to do, but they’ve been frowned upon for worker bees in their prime. Recently, however, sleep scientists have discovered advantages to napping, which they view not just as solace but also as something akin to brain food. No longer written off as a cop-out for the weak and the bored, the nap is coming into its own as an element of a healthy life.”

Other interesting points in the article include:

• “When you take a look at American history, we might seem to be a nap-friendly people. After all, some of our most productive figures napped shamelessly during the day, among them Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison.”
• “Napping was more valued on the other side of the Atlantic, where the habit’s foremost champion was probably Winston Churchill. In ‘The Gathering Storm‘ . . . the British statesman wrote, “Nature had not intended mankind to work from 8 in the morning until midnight without the refreshment of blessed oblivion which, even if it only lasts 20 minutes, is sufficient to renew all the vital forces.” [Editor’s note: Hmmm. Although Churchill never coined that maxim about hearts and brains and age, he apparently had some very good advice for the over-30 crowd.]

• And, “Elsewhere, the nap is winning friends and invigorating people. Some new studies make dramatic claims for it. Taken in the workplace, naps can increase productivity and reduce ‘general crabbiness,’ according to a just-concluded 25-year survey of the practice in industrial countries.” Nonetheless, Drabelle reports that, despite its honorable napping tradition, “In 2005, the Spanish government canceled the siesta for its employees, although it offered them flex time for easing into the new regimen.”

chilly day in May -
the old cat naps
in a sunny window

rainy christmas
while we nap
the lawn goes from white to green

no nap
no stroll
the writer grinding teeth

………………. by dagosan

Drabelle concludes with a warning that “Severely troubled sleepers should consult a physician about fixing their slumber, perhaps with naps of suitable length folded in.” And, he suggests ways to ensure that naps won’t run “the risk of encroaching on nighttime sleep.” He concludes with wise advice:

“In a country where fewer than half of us say we regularly get a good night’s sleep, naps are increasingly important restoratives, and we owe it to ourselves to take them right.”

a noon nap
on a good day…
first rainbow

his quick nap
is just pretend…
hermit crab

…………………. by Kobayashi Issa , translated by David G. Lanoue

Looking Backwards: As much as I now appreciate Roberta sending me the WaPo nap article, I have to confess that the most enjoyable part of this episode was my discovery of who wrote the piece. Roberta did not know that Dennis Drabelle was one of my favorite colleagues at the Federal Trade Commission three decades ago, and we have sadly been out of touch for far too long. “Denny” and I worked in the Special Projects office of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, for our friend Bert Foer, who is now president of the American Antitrust Institute. At Special Projects, we had fun and became friends working on the new-fangled notion of “competition advocacy.” The cropped snapshot at the beginning of this paragraph was taken circa 1978 and depicts Drabelle and Foer at an office party at Bert’s house.

And, for another blast from the past, I noticed this guy, who also worked in Special Projects at the time, lurking behind Dennis in the same shot:

…. same party & photo: Mickey Kaus, Slate blogger [now]

So, I’m glad Roberta suggested I read “Nap Time,” and I’m going to use it as an excuse to email Dennis Drabelle a link to this posting. Meanwhile, the f/k/a Gang wish you pleasant mid-day dreams and happy nap times, today and everyday.

over my midday nap
the scent of lotuses
meanders

while napping
swish-swish stroked
by the willow

in no time
filled with sleep wrinkles…
my summer kimono

the stepchild’s chore–
during baby’s midday nap
picking fleas

…………………. by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue

Better Blawg Browsing: We want to join Ted at Overlawyered.com, Ed at BlawgReview and many other top law-related webloggers in spreading the word about the new Alltop.com Law Page — and in thanking Alltop’s Guy Kawasaki for including f/k/a in its aggregation of the best law-oriented websites. As its About page explains, Alltop helps you “explore your passions by collecting stories from ‘all the top’ sites on the web.” A myriad of topics (from the environment to celebrity gossip, to politics, and now law) are presented by Alltop in “single-page aggregations.” They say:

You can think of an Alltop site as a “dashboard,” “table of contents,” or even a “digital magazine rack” of the Internet. To be clear, Alltop sites are starting points — they are not destinations per se. The bottom line is that we are trying to enhance your online reading by both displaying stories from the sites that you’re already visiting and helping you discover sites that you didn’t know existed. In this way, our goal is the “cessation of Internet stagnation.”

Alltop lists the last five headlines from each featured site, allowing you to see the beginning of each piece by scrolling over its hyperlink. This looks like a good tool for quickly finding blawg postings worth checking out.

. . . . . . . 1958 to 2008. . . May 1st is Law Day . .

We’ve pretty much said all we need say about Law Day in prior years — see, e.g., “Law Day, Not Lawyers Day” (2004); “towards a better Law Day” (2005); “lawdy, lawdy another Law Day” (2006); and “Law Day with Chief Judge Kaye” (2007). This year, I’d like to point out that this is the 50th Anniversary of Law Day, which was started with a proclamation by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1958.

In other years, President George W. Bush issued Law Day proclamations a few days before May 1st. In 2005, he did not mention lawyers in his Law Day proclamation, in “Law Day, U.S.A., 2006” he did. Although President Bush has recently recognized Malaria Awareness Day, and Older American Month, along with Loyalty Day (which is also on May 1st) and Education and Sharing Day, there is no Law Day proclamation up at the White House Proclamation Page, as of 4 PM Eastern Time today, April 29, 2008. Some wags might conclude that he likes loyalty and lot more than the rule of law. update (April 30 May 1, 2008, 8 AM): Still no Law Day Proclamation from the White House, but National Physical Fitness and Sports Month did get honored overnight.

Better Late (May 1, 2008, 9:30 AM):  The White House has finally issued its proclamation for Law Day 2008.  It starts: “The right of ordinary men and women to determine their own future, protected by the rule of law, lies at the heart of America’s founding principles.  As our country celebrates the 50th anniversary of Law Day, we renew our commitment to the ideals on which this great Nation was established and to a robust system of ordered liberty.”  And continues, “We pay tribute to the men and women in America’s legal community.”  President Bush also looks toward “a hopeful future as we work to secure the liberty that is the natural right of every man, woman, and child.”

Prof Yabut, having recently watched both Frontline’s “Sick Around the World” and Michael Moore’s Sicko,, and having just read Pres. Bush’s proclamations for Loyalty Day, Older American Month, Education and Sharing Day, Malaria Day, and National Volunteers Week, wonders yet again: How can all those other nations pay for everyone’s health-care and education (and assure month-long vacations to workers) when our rich and caring country fails to do so?

The 2008 Law Day theme at the American Bar Association is The Rule of Law: Foundation for Communities of Opportunity and Equity. The ABA’s Law Day materials explain

Why Is This Theme Important?

Advancing the rule of law helps achieve an
array of public benefits. We all have a stake in
the rule of law, and we all can do our part to
strengthen it.

The rule of law refers to a system of self-
government with a strong and accessible legal
process. It features a system based on fair,
publicized, broadly understood, and stable
laws, and diverse, competent, and independent
lawyers and judges. This foundation is essen-
tial to foster sustainable communities of
opportunity and equity.

Frankly, I’m not too sure what that means, but there are a lot of materials at the ABA Law Day 2008 website to help understand the topic and even teach it to others. If you want to see whether there are Law Day activities in your area, check out their Law Day Events Calendar.

If you like tacky, don’t forget the ABA Law Day Store. (scroll down our 2006 Law Day post for thoughts on the Law Day Store) update (April 30, 2008): Anne at Court-o-rama says: “Not to be outdone by Hallmark, the ABA has a Law Day Store selling Rule of Law yo-yos, mugs, backpacks, balloons, postcards (send one to a despot!), and carabiners: the keychains of the future!!!.”

If you long for the days when Law Day was still celebrated by the Bar as if it really were Lawyers Day, go to the Resources Page of The Billable Hour Company and check out their Legal Holidays and Events Calendar. The calendar is meant:

To help raise the morale of legal professionals by spreading information about all of the federal, state and local holidays that celebrate lawyers and legal professionals.

Since the rest of the world is “not quite ready for Love Lawyers Day,” lawyers may just have to be satisfied with loving themselves.

afterthought (7 PM): KipEsquire at a Stitch in Haste is not happy with Pres. Bush’s proclamation making May 1st a National Day of Prayer, saying “Bush again insults and marginalizes atheists” (hat tip to Ed at BlawgReview)

If you’ve read down this far and are saying to yourself, “hey, where’s the haiku?,” here are a few from the brand new edition of Acorn (a journal of contemporary haiku, that is edited by Carolyn Hall). We’ll share more from Acorn No. 20, Spring 2008, very soon.

a cold cup
from a cold cupboard –
morning moon

… by Peggy Lyles -

pale moon the thinning of days into winter

… by Billie Wilson

here
for now
first snow

…… by John Stevenson

century oak –
waiting it out
inside the drip line

country road
the Nam vet
revs his Harley

…….. by Tom Painting

p.s. Tom’s second poem reminded me of articles I’ve been seeing lately like this one: “older riders adding to motorcycle fatalities” and “rusty baby boomers on bikes.” Be careful out there, Boomers. Don’t forget the rules of law nor the laws of nature (and physics).

Nakations? The New York Times tells us today that there’s a big trend of Americans heading to nudist resorts for their vacations — dubbed “nakations”. See “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Worries” (by Michelle Higgins, April 27, 2008). The article came just a couple days after I wrote to a friend that, “American obesity has taken a lot of the fun out of watching the change from winter to spring wardrobes.” So, I’ve got to confess that the general notion of Americans wearing no clothes is not a big draw (much less a turn-on) for me.

nude beach
a man and a woman
collect shells

nude beach
the jet ski instructress
tells me to “concentrate”
………….. . . . by ed markowski [”shells” from The Heron’s Nest.]

On the other hand, our cranky contrarian Prof. Yabut pointed to the NYT statement that:

“the real boom in nude vacations is coming at the high end of the business, as upscale hotels and resorts, and even some luxury cruise lines, have begun to see the economic potential in the no-clothes crowd — particularly those who want to shed their clothes but not their pampered lifestyles.”

keep your shirt on, buddy … …

As a lifelong (and long-lived) practitioner of lookism, Yabut added, “at least they’re upscale nudists.” That got me thinking about the widespread assumption that the rich are not as fat as the poor in America. I turned to Mr. Google for help, and went first to the Wikipedia entry on obesity, where a relevant section states:

Social determinants

“. . . In particular, a class co-factor consistently appears across many studies. Comparing net worth with BMI scores, a 2004 study found obese American subjects approximately half as wealthy as thin ones. When income differentials were factored out, the inequity persisted—thin subjects were inheriting more wealth than fat ones.

A higher rate of a lower level of education and tendencies to rely on cheaper fast foods is seen as a reason why these results are so dissimilar. Another study finds women who married into higher status are predictably thinner than women who married into lower status. [Ed. note: my empirical evidence definitely jibes with that last statement.]

“A 2007 study of more than 32,500 children . . . indicated that BMI change in friends, siblings or spouse predicted BMI change in subjects irrespective of geographical distance. The authors concluded from the results that acceptance of body mass plays an important role in changes in body size .”

family picnic
the new wife’s rump
bigger than mine

… by Roberta Beary - The Unworn Necklace (Snapshot Press 2007)

That sounded about right. See also: “Lower-income Neighborhoods Associated With Higher Obesity Rates” (Science Daily, Feb. 10, 2008) (”A new study appearing in the journal Nutrition Reviews reveals that characteristics of neighborhoods, including the area’s income level, the built environment [e.g., “barriers to physical activity”], and access to healthy food, contribute to the continuing obesity epidemic.”); “DIETING LINKED TO INCREASED WEALTH, STUDY FINDS” (Research News, July 2005) (”Overweight Americans who lose a lot of weight also tend to build more wealth as they drop the pounds, according to new research.”); and “Obesity Often Linked to Income” (npr, Aug. 18, 2004) (”Americans spend a good deal of money eating out, a habit tied to the nation’s obesity epidemic. Researchers say the less people can pay for food, the more calories they consume.”)

dia de los muertos —
the anorexic looks
envious

……. dagosan

Nonetheless, the f/k/a Gang doesn’t [usually] just stop its research as soon as we find materials confirming our own assumptions. And, when we looked at a few additional Google results for the search “obesity [income OR wealth]”, we quickly saw that — like just about everything we talk about at this site — things are not as simple or clearcut as we first thought.

For example:

• “Obesity surges among affluent” (by Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY, May 2, 2005) According to this article, “Obesity a condition that for decades has been more prevalent in the poor, is skyrocketing among affluent Americans, a new study finds. Defined as 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight, obesity has increased nearly threefold over a 30-year period among Americans who earn more than $60,000 per year, according to researchers at the University of Iowa College of Public Health.” Since the 1970’s, obesity rates “went from 9.7% to 26.8% . Among those making less than $25,000, the increase was much smaller, from 22.5% to 32.5%.”

These are scary numbers, but they do no necessarily contradict the Rich Is Thinner notion, since — for most Americans — “rich” and “affluent” refer to people making a lot more then $60,000 per year. I’d like to see how the numbers break down for the “truly rich” who can afford to go upscale. But, what about:

• “Children’s Risk of obesity soars with family income” (Sept. 17, 2008) According to the Daily Mail, “Children with wealthy middle class parents are more likely to be overweight or obese than those from poor households, a study has revealed.” The article goes on to say that:

 

 

“The findings go against conventional wisdom that Britain’s poorest families have the worst diets - showing the risk of obesity actually soars with family income. . . . Researchers linked the problem to the rise of highly-paid working mothers - who are often forced to leave a nanny or nursery in charge of their child’s diet and physical exercise.

“High consumption of snack foods and sweetened drinks, long hours spent watching television and low rates of breastfeeding - shown to prevent obesity - were also said to be factors”.

 

As the article notes, this seems to be a warning to middle-class parents, “who often ‘assumed’ their children were living healthy lives.”

the naked child crawls–
the blooming
poppies

.. by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue

It’s sad that the children of the well-off are also caught up in the Western world’s obesity epidemic. Thankfully, as today’s Times article points out: “No matter how popular and upscale nude resorts become, one social convention is unlikely to change: Nudity and family vacations don’t always mix.” Thus, nakationers can probably avoid having to look at the fat, naked kids of wealthy Americans and Brits. That’s definitely a relief.

Buddha’s birthday–
fat little sparrows
and their parents

a chubby girl
offered pickles…
soot sweeping

my child
in the barley field wind…
nicely plump

.. by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue

- no thanks: nudist camp weight-loss center cartoon

roly-poly pigeons
growing fatter…
a long day

being so fat
he’s not a good jumper…
frog

giving these skinny legs
new life…
a pheasant

.. by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue

… … Does Richer Mean Thinner? We don’t get paid enough to have a definitive answer to the Are Rich Nudists Thinner question. Nevertheless, we note the section of today’s NYT article devoted to the notions of U. Berkeley psychology professor Dacher Keltner:

“Today, America’s increasing obsession with health and wellness may be contributing to the rise of clothing-optional vacations. “Americans have moralized healthy bodies,” said Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology at the University of California at Berkeley, who has studied moral emotion and judgment. He added that “a case could be made that people are traveling to these places to be pure for moral reasons — to achieve harmony in nature.” It’s really a form of self-expression, he added, that dates back to Walt Whitman and John Muir, as well as Thoreau, all of whom advocated being as true to yourself as possible. “The truest you can be is taking off those clothes,” he said.”

It seems to the f/k/a Gang that most of the folk who would agree with and abide by Prof. Keltner’s explanation are likely to be the educated American elite, who tend to be rich rather than poor (and from California rather than Indiana). Therefore, if we had to be dropped into the middle of a nudist resort — and not ones like the Times says “turn away single men” — we hope it’s one of the upscale nakation spots, perhaps the kind that caters to a lot of those “women who married into higher status” mentioned at Wikipedia.

cloudburst–
a naked rider
on a naked horse

.. by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue

the old couple’s legs -
skinny and white as
mine

empty cookie tin –
letting out last year’s
santa suit

……….. by dagosan

Seen here yesterday. . . . [big]

cherry blossoms
another year
of haiku

……… by john stevenson - Upstate Dim Sum (Vol. 2007/II, Fall 2007)

Rumor has it that haiku poet-editor John Stevenson snuck into Schenectady at the end of the afternoon yesterday (April 24, 2008), for a quick look at the cherry blossoms on display at Congregation Gates of Heaven. [Click here and here to see why it was worth the drive from Albany.] I was on that very corner snapping photos around 3 PM yesterday, and I’m sorry to have missed John (and his friendly guide Prof. Yu Chang).

Earlier this month, John was in New York City, serving (again) as judge for the English-language section of a student haiku contest sponsored by the United Nations International School.

Christmas evening
the snow
doesn’t stick

……. by john stevenson - Upstate Dim Sum (Vol. 2007/II)

Now that he’s managing editor of The Heron’s Nest journal (see prior post), John’s award-winning haiku are no longer appearing at that venerable venue. So, I thought I’d post a few of his poems that are not found yet online, from the last issue of Upstate Dim Sum, as well as a trio from Shamrock Haiku Journal, which was launched in 2007 by the Irish Haiku Society. No matter what else he’s doing, or where he’s hanging his hat, you can be sure that John is hatching or crafting haiku.

the tide
arranging rocks and sand,
just as I would

smell of the earth turned up by a tractor

showing the new kid
which corner of the lot
is home plate

old pasture
the buzzing
in a hollow tree

lights on
in the schoolhouse
winter afternoon

warm breezes
seem responsible
for the way she walks

….. by John Stevenson - Upstate Dim Sum (Fall 2007)

poor singing voices
nevertheless
they have built a nest

a small kitchen
the toaster
warms one corner

Impressionism
ladies with parasols
walk to the next painting

…. by John Stevenson - Shamrock Haiku Journal (Vol. 1, 2007)
“a small kitchen” - also. pub. Upstate Dim Sum (Fall 2007)

. . . Last week, the corner where I live had the blahs. Even with a blue sky, it seemed like a black-and-white, colorless world.

cloud-covered twilight
she resets the printer
to grayscale

…… by dagosan

Over the weekend, however, we got color.

All it took was the arrival of our cherry blossoms.

(large)

Like my former adopted hometown of Washington, D.C., humble little Washington Ave. in the Historic Stockade District of Schenectady, NY, has a few splendid days dominated by cherry blossoms.

the wiggle
of a bee’s behind—
cherry blossom

. . . . . . by Laryalee Fraser

As you can see, the Washington Avenue cherry-blossom trees are rather young, but they already make a big splash and promise much more as the years go by. Here are a couple photos I took this afternoon; you’ll find a few more below the fold.

Washington Ave. looking northward from Union St. (larger)

distant thunder
a few cherry blossoms
float to earth

just blossoming
we meet under
the cherry tree

. . . . by w.f. owen

This tree stands in front of the Schenectady County Historical Society at 32 Washington Ave.

cherry blossoms
the tug tug tug
of baby’s hand

morning mist
a bent back sweeps
yesterday’s blossoms

. . . . . by roberta beary

update (April 24, 2008): Many thanks to our venerable (well, old) and very popular local morning radio personality Don Weeks, for posting a few of these f/k/a photos at his 810WGY webpage. See “Cherry Blossoms in Schenectady” (810WGY.com, April 24, 2008)

- for information on cherry blossom festivals in Washington and Vancouver, and many more cherry blossom haiku, see our 2007 posting and our 2008 sequel.

- click “more” to see more blossoms under the fold -

(more…)

Schenectady attorney Brian Mercy evoked tears of joy earlier this week from a client who had been in jail since last August, but was released from a drug charge when the vehicle search was held to be warrantless and illegal. But, Brian wasn’t quite so lucky yesterday with another jail-house dwelling client. According to the print edition of today’s Schenectady Daily Gazette (”Man punches attorney during court appearance,” April 19, 2008, p. B2):

“A man facing a jail assault charge apparently didn’t like the plea offered to him Friday.

“Charles Ardley, 21 [street name “Murder”], who was being held at the Schenectady County jail since last fall, responded by punching his attorney in the face, officials said.

‘He got mouthy with the judge and reached over and punched me in the side of the head,’ said attorney Brian Mercy, who was not injured. ‘I saw it coming.’

. . . “Mercy, who is no longer representing Ardley, said his former client was expected to be charged with contempt and harassment.

“The offer was apparently withdrawn.”

Although I’ve on occasion been tempted to slap a client or two upside the head (a couple divorce mediation husbands come to mind), I’ve never been punched, slapped or even pushed by a client. I have had a couple scary parents of my Law Guardian clients make not-at-all subtle threats when they did not like my opinion as to who should get custody or more visitation, or whether foster care was necessary. [These guys usually had biceps larger than my head.]

What about you, Mr. or Ms. Lawyer? Have you ever been punched or assaulted by a client? Are criminal lawyers more at risk than matrimonial lawyers or estate planners? Let us know with a Comment or a blurb at your weblog.

update (2 PM EDT): Hat tip to Ed of BlawgReview for sending me a YouTube Link to “Lawyer Punched in Face in Court,” on which Dustin Wadsworth shows a clip of a public defender being punched by his robbery-suspect client in a court room in Georgetown, KY. (ABC2Newscast, Feb. 6, 2008). This lawyer (not identified) got walloped.

afterglow (April 21, 2008): Thanks to all the blawgers who have pointed to this posting from their weblogs, including Holden at What About Clients, Gideon at A Public Defender, Kevin at Real Lawyers Have Blogs, and David at Above the Law.

If this post interested you, you might want to take a look at “poorly framed in Schenectady,” where I ask whether a local public defender should have refused to present an obviously-bogus alibi (which included using a photo from a picture frame in pointing to an imaginary perpetrator).  If you are the defensive-lawyer type, it might make you want to punch someone (i.e., me).

. . . . . .

streetwalker
with a black eye halo
around the moon

….. by George Swede from Almost Unseen

empty punchbowl
husband and wife
avoid the mistletoe

…… by dagosan

all fools day
my daughter gets in first
with a pinch and punch

…….. by Matt Morden - The Heron’s Nest (June 2001)

new year’s morning
like every other
we punch the clock

………………… ed markowski

mosquitoes
the slap of a beaver tail
at twilight

. . . by Alice Frampton - The Heron’s Nest (Sept. 2005)

singing a song
and slapping his butt…
with a fan

from his hole
the snake pokes his head…
the cat slaps it

swat! swat!
the escaping fly buzzes
with laughter

… by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue

One thing I plan to do even more of here at f/k/a, is bringing you haiku by our Honored Guest poets that are not otherwise available online — poetry being published in “hard copy” journals, books and anthologies but not in cyberspace, as well as off-line contest winners. Therefore, I want to urge our guest-poet family to continue to send me their off-line work, so we can make it available to a broader audience by posting it at f/k/a.

For example, see what you’re been missing from haijin Tom Clausen by not subscribing to the bi-annual anthology of the Route 9 Haiku Group, Upstate Dim Sum. Here’s a dozen from Tom that appeared in the Fall 2007 issue of UDS.

flurries…
a truck piled high
with hay

too faint
for my son to see
a little used trail

sun come out…
the walk home
with my shadow

full of dirt
a dump truck waits
for her to cross

summer -
seeing more
of her

flower garden
where she buries
the goldfish

pleasant forecast -
my wife announces
her plan

urologist’s office -
a framed photograph
of the falls

the place emptied …
a spring breeze
blows through

in the dark
seeing my flashlight batteries
dying

a week before he died -
new glasses
for distance

late day sun -
at the edge of the party
everyone aglow

… by Tom Clausen, from Upstate Dim Sum (2007/II, Fall 2007 issue)

As is our tradition, f/k/a is declared a Tax-Whiner-Free Zone today.

tax day —
a battery-powered breeze
stirs the desk chimes

…………………… by Billie Wilson from The Heron’s Nest

If you’re feeling a need for a prayer or two, perhaps the Giacalone Siblings will serve as inspiration:

tax deadline
we count dependents
and contributions

poem: David Giacalone
photo: MAMA G. (1956)

The original haiga was posted at MagnaPoets Japanese Form (April 15, 2007), where the Comments somehow devolved into a discussion of braciole.

Even by Schenectady standards for silly and strange legal news (see examples here), the burglary conviction of 50-year-old Gregory Barnes is noteworthy. Last February, after a two-week trial, Barnes was found guilty of three counts of first-degree burglary, plus menacing and harassment charges [for threats and sexual comments to the victim]. According to the Albany Times Union:

“Barnes broke into his sister-in-law’s James Street home and attacked her with a screwdriver in March 2007. At the time, he was high on crack cocaine and incensed at the woman for cutting him off from family activities, Assistant District Attorney Anne Bair said.”

What makes the case peculiar and interesting can be culled from the headlines it garnered in the two major local newspapers: “Burglar convicted after alibi collapses: Defendant tried to pin violent break-in on imaginary criminal” (Albany Times Union, by Paul Nelson, Feb. 22, 2008); and “Burglar gets added time for trying to frame a frame” (Schenectady Daily Gazette, by Steven Cook, April 12, 2008). As the TU explains further:

“Barnes tried to pin his crime on an imaginary person — even providing a photo of a dapper picture-frame model to make his case.

. . . “A few weeks before the trial started, Barnes presented an alibi to his lawyer, public defender Kent Gebert. Barnes gave Gebert a picture of a man he contended was responsible for the crimes against his sister-in-law and gave the man’s name as Wayne Heittleman, Gebert said. That photo was used as an exhibit to bolster the case.

. . . “Gebert said Barnes testified in court that he had only arranged for Heittleman to scare the victim and that Heittleman ‘went beyond the assignment” by burglarizing the place and attacking the woman.”

Public Defender Kent Gebert told the Times Union he initially had no reason to doubt Barnes’ story. Luckily, the prosecutor’s office was not quite as gullible as Gebert. You see, this is the “photo” submitted by Barnes and Gebert to identify the alibi perpetrator:

The TU tells us that “A subsequent background check of Heittleman by county investigator Dave Mantei came up empty,” and “We knew it (photo) was phony, cropped and cut out from some type of catalog, but didn’t know where,” ADA Bair added. Then, serendipity helped uncover the truth:

“As luck would have it, Cathy Dobies, who works in the district attorney’s office, saw the photo in a picture frame while browsing in the Glenville Wal-Mart where her son works.”

The Schenectady Daily Gazette filled out the story in its article today:

“Investigators spent the better part of 12 hours trying to find the man, Bair said. When the photo surfaced, they had immediate suspicions, but had to prove it.

“It was Cathy Dobies, who works in the district attorney’s office, who solved the mystery. She knew she had seen the face and suspected it came from somewhere, but didn’t know where. She checked several advertisements. Then, after work, she went to Wal-Mart.

“Within minutes, she found ‘Mr. Heidleman.’

“ ‘I went to the picture frame aisle and there they were, tons of them,’ Dobies recalled today. . . .

“It turned out the man in the picture was nowhere near Schenectady last March — or apparently ever. Officials called the company that produced the frames and was told he lived in Florida.”

Taking Ms. Dobies’ lead, I headed to the same Wal-Mart store this afternoon, and also quickly found “Mr. H.”, and scanned it for this posting (after spending $1.47 for the frame). The photo is part of the packaging in a series of picture frames with the brand name “megapix,” manufactured by MCS Industries, Inc., and sold at Wal-Mart. It comes on a thin piece of cardboard, in the odd size and shape shown above. There is no way a thinking adult could have been fooled by it.

Acting Schenectady County Court Judge Richard Giardino was clearly correct to be angry about the lies told to judge and jury by defendant Barnes in his courtroom, and right to add years to his sentence. On Friday, Judge Giardino sentenced Barnes — who had a prior burglary conviction 20 years ago — to the maximum 18 years in prison. Per the Daily Gazette:

“As upsetting as this crime is, what is also upsetting to the court is that you came and put your hand on the Bible and lied in front of the jury,” Giardino told Barnes. “You tried to put this off on someone else, and in doing so you damaged the integrity of the whole criminal justice system.”

The prosecutor had only asked for 12 years. Public Defender Gebert had the chutzpah to ask for five years, arguing that Barnes had stayed out of trouble for 20 years, and still has a chance to be a productive member of society.

After the verdict, Gebert told the TU in February that he was “thoroughly ticked off” and that Barnes sheepishly gazed down when he realized the prosecution had refuted his story and had the picture frame to prove it. He also asserted that he:

“wouldn’t knowingly put something in evidence if I knew it was false.”

We’re not doing legal ethics punditry these days here at f/k/a, but I’d like to do a little Concerned Citizen Commentary. Frankly, I don’t buy lawyer Gebert’s excuses — and I would not like to think that the ethical and “professional responsibility” duties of an officer of the court could be so lax as to allow him to look the other way, while his client tried to pin the crime on a picture-frame model. I’m hoping that my weblogging friend Scott H. Greenfield, of the Simple Justice weblog, and many other criminal defense and legal ethics experts [such as the proprietors of CrimProfBlog, Doug Berman at Sentencing Law & Policy, Skelly Wright at Arb& Cap, Mike Frisch at Legal Profession Blog, and maybe even Scott at Grits for Breakfast] will help us sort out Gebert’s obligations. And, I hope some non-criminal lawyers who care about protection of the public and the honor of the profession will also chime in and help us understand what kind of due diligence is due from a criminal defense lawyer confronted with a fishy tale.

Did Gebert “know” the alibi was false and the picture phony? It seems to me he would have to be consciously leaning backwards, averting his gaze, and holding his nose, to avoid seeing the truth. Such willful ignorance is not the same as not knowing. Here are a few of the reasons why I believe no responsible lawyer should have — in the totality of the circumstances — allowed the alibi to go forward:

• Barnes’ victim was his own sister-in-law, who surely could identify her attacker; this raises the alibi threshold in my mind;
• The photo came in a size and on a type of stock paper that is not consistent with home photography — and it plainly looks like a male model (rather than a likely co-conspirator button-man, likely to act as a heavy in crack-head Barnes’ campaign to scare his relatives)
• If Gebert had Googled the name of the so-called actual perpetrator — either “Wayne Heittleman” per the Times Union, or “Wayne Heidleman” per the Gazette — he would have found not one responsive link back in February. Today, the only Google results for either name are articles about this story. Indeed, there appears to be no person ever mentioned in cyberspace with the surname “Heittleman.”

By letting Barnes present that clearly bogus alibi evidence, public defender Gebert did a great disservice to the justice system and to the public and his profession. (Without that alibi, would there have been a two-week jury trial wasting public and private resources?) Of course, as a practical matter, he helped garner the maximum sentence for his client. I hope his managing attorneys have taken note, along with the appropriate bar officials.

after the verdict
the tireless lawyer speaks
in falling snow

first murder trial–
the D.A. arrives
in new gloves

…………………………………………. by Barry George, J.D.

A final thought or two: ADA Anne Bair told the TU that the attempted ruse was “something out of the movies.” My response to that remark is similar to that of Albany area investigator “John D” at his weblog Nobody Move! (”STUPID CROOK TRICKS: EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY”, March 2, 2008):

Movies? What movies? Dumb and Dumber? The Jerk? The beauty of this is that it’s a twofer; a stupid crook trick, and a stupid lawyer trick. Too bad we couldn’t have worked in a stupid politician trick for the trifecta. Maybe next time.

This being Schenectady, I doubt the stupid-trifecta will be long in coming.

school photo
the frown my sister
grew into

… by