Doing ethicalEsq f/k/a has been a very rewarding experience, whether the correspondents agreed with me or not.  Until I started a web journal, [my f/k/a Gang of alter egos] thought the internet might be used to sustain established friendships and relationships (mostly with email), but couldn’t possibly create new ones of any significant value.  Well, I was wrong.

Comments and e-correspondence sparked by this website have put me in touch with some very good [talented and interesting] human beings, who can scarcely be blamed for being lawyers [or haiku poets].   Although they’re a lot busier than I am, I hope to continue to connect with them across cyberspace.

At the end of this posting, I’ve listed (alphabetically fairly randomly) a number of the web-log related folks who have become more than just pixelated names to me, due to the quality and/or quantity of their communications, insights, inspiration, or assistance.

sweet grapes
the conversation passes
between friends

… by Hilary Tann – The Heron’s Nest VIII:1

Far more often than I could have imagined 6 years ago, this weblog has sparked real conversations — the kind that nurture real friendships.   Before I list the names of people across the blogisphere who have been the most generous to me and this weblog, I want to share some haiku and senryu about conversations. 

The poems are written by poets who I only knew as highly-respected members of the haijin community when I approached them a few years ago (to ask if I could use their poems at f/k/a).  But, each has become a good friend, who will surely remain at the center of my emotional/social life for decades to come.

April shower –
making small talk
under the awning

video chat –
touching the gap
in her baby teeth

…. by Yu Chang
“April shower” – Upstate Dim Sum (2004/II)
“video chat” – Shiki Haikusphere 10th Anniversary Anthology (2007)

talking divorce
he pours his coffee
then mine

talking in bed
I forget his name…
second husband

talk of war
the spin cycle’s
steady hum

blackout–
my son speaks a secret
i always knew

……………………….. by Roberta Beary
“talking divorce” – The Unworn Necklace (2007)
“talking in bed” – Shamrock Haiku Journal (Issue 5, 2008)

Father’s Day
she tells me
I’m not the father

in the pollen
on my car
her signature

on the beach
the tracks of two
lounge chairs

dining alone
I rehearse
a conversation

… by John Stevenson
“Christmas Day” - Some of the Silence (Red Moon Press,1999)
“in the pollen” & “on the beach” & “dining alone” – Quiet Enough (Red Moon Press, 2004)

after the argument
restringing
the antique marionette

dim sum
we share
fish stories

morning rain
i apologize for something
i said in my sleep

small talk
at the end of a long day
fireflies

… by Ed Markowski
“after the argument” – mayfly spring 02

her words sting –
the mosquitos take me
just as I am

it’s pink! it’s purple!
sunset inspires
more bickering

silently
she lures me to the kitchen
peeled tangerine

…. by David Giacalone
“her words sting” – Frogpond, XXIX: 3 Fall 2006
“it’s pink!” – - Frogpond Vol. XXVIII, #2 (2005); haiga photo: A.J. Giacalone
“silently” – Walking the Same Path (HSA, 2004 Members’ Anthology

With our midnight deadline looming (and a real farewell post still “in the typewriter”), I want to quickly list the people who have made more than a passing impression on me, through their interactions around this weblog — from lots of “link love” and inspriation at their own blawgs, to thoughtful comments or consistent silent cyber-visits, to direct email communications, occasional phone calls, and even lunch dates in the “real” world.  Sincere thanks and best wishes to each of you.

In the “blawgisphere: Anne Reed at Deliberations; Anne Skove at Court-o-rama; Laura Orr at Oregon Legal Research; Scott Greenfield at Simple Justice;  Carolyn Elefant at My Shingle; Bob Ambrogi at Legal Blog Watch; the infamous and incomparable “Ed Post” at Blawg Review; Diane Levin at Mediation Channel; Walter Olson at Overlawyered.com; Elie Mystal at Above the Law;  Stephanie West Allen at IdeaLawg;  Gideon at A Public Defender; Eric Turkewitz at New York P/I Lawyer; Dan Hull at What About Clients; Alan Childress at the Legal Profession Blog; Marco Randazza at The Legal Satyricon

On the haiku side of the cyberspace: Matt Morden at Morden Haiku; Don Wentworth of Issa’s Tidy Hut; Curtis Dunlap at Tobacco Road Poet;

plus haijin frequent visitors: George Swede; Charlie Trumball; Ed Markowski; Roberta Beary; Collin Barber; John Stevenson; Carolyn Hall; Laryalee Fraser; & Yu Chang

Shout-outs to: Don Hutcheson at The Complete Lawyer; Tim Kevan at Barrister Blog, the bi-bloggy George M. Wallace; Greg Beck at Consumer Law & Policy Blog; Jo-Ann Schrom at RotterdamNY.info; Rev. David Hess; James R. Elkins of the Legal Studies Forum; Bob Eckstein of Today’s Snowman

]]> http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/2009/02/28/just-getting-to-know-you/feed/ 3 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/2009/02/26/rivers-sunset-metaphors-galore/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/2009/02/26/rivers-sunset-metaphors-galore/#comments Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:07:22 +0000 David Giacalone http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/?p=10654 February thaw
a new patch of orange
on the river

… by dagosan

Catching another sunset or two in photos before we “archivize” this weblog on Saturday seemed like a good idea, as the afternoon waned today. [click "more" below to see some of the photographs]  Naturally, I managed to dawdle so long at this keyboard that I only caught the last few moments before the sun dipped behind nearby hills.  My timing was a metaphor of sorts for much that has happened (and not) lately in my life.  Of course, the sunset itself was a too-obvious symbol (along with the promised sunrise after a long dark night) for the ending of an important era in my life.

.. ..

- sunset along the Mohawk River, Schenectady, NY, at Cucumber Alley, Feb. 26, 2009; dedicated to Arthur P. Giacalone, who would have been 90 years old today -

the river
full of ice
broken free

……………………. Tom Clausen – Upstate Dim Sum (2005/II)

Once I got the lay of the land, I knew I had to go nextdoor to the Cucumber Alley yard of Bob and Sylvie Briber, if I wanted to capture the sunset reflecting off the newly melted waters of the Binne Kill (creek), where it joined the Mohawk.  At that point, the metaphors for my life-after-f/k/a multiplied.  From ice on the Mohawk breaking up, and traffic heading across the Western Gateway Bridge,

to the two fools walking near broken ice ..  ..

.. .. and the newly uncovered picnic table, the sunset set the stage for new stages, dangers, and opportunities.

first day of winter
my walk extends
to the middle of the river

… by Yu Chang – from “Season’s Greetings 2009 Letter: Stream – River” (Ed., Mohammed H. Siddiqui, Baltimore, MD, 2008)

Of course, living in the present moment means realizing that communing with sunset was not getting my final posting done as f/k/a’s self-imposed March 1st deadline looms near.  So, it’s time for me to get back to fretting over lawyer fees.  I do hope to return to this post to add a few more river-sunset haiku over the next couple of days.

rivermoon
we run
out of words

…. by Roberta Beary – “Season’s Greetings 2009 Letter”

p.s. .. .. As I wrote a couple months ago, there is definitely something about sunsets that holds my attention and affection.  Click that link for a few more shots along “my” stretch of the Mohawk River, in Schenectady, and more sunset poems.  Two nights ago (Feb. 24, 2009), I found a winter sky with a bit more sunset color than this evening.  Here are two shots from the end of my block taken that evening.

.. ..

- – photos by David Giacalone, Schenecady, NY, February 2009 –

waking too late
for dawn
- he pencils-in sunset

.. by dagosan

afterwords:  This is the “last f/k/a sunset,” shot from my backyard, along the Mohawk in Schenectady, on February 28, 2009, just before I wrote the last posting for this weblog.  Looks rather bittersweet, don’t you think?:

Beginning in late November 2003, with a little feature located in our Sidebar called “haikuesque,” this weblog has brought you “one-breath poetry” by some of the finest English-language haiku poets alive (plus hundreds of translations of the work of 19th Century Japanese Haiku Master, Kobayashi Issa, by David G. Lanoue).  In total, 27 well-known and respected haijin have generously let me share their poetry with you, in my role as Haiku Missionary, bringing the joys of “real haiku” to lawyers and other folk not familiar with the genre. [The post "Yes, Lawyers and haiku" explains why haiku seems like a perfect art form for lawyers and others in our too-busy society.]  Little did I know that rubbing elbows with some of the best haiku poets would inspire me to work hard at the craft myself, and would also result in my making some of my very closest friends.

Other than repeating here my heartfelt, immense gratitude to each of our Honored Guests, there really is no sufficient way to express my thanks or sum up their contribution to the success of this weblog.  As suggested here, I have neither the time nor inclination to select my “favorite” haiku by each poet.  Happily, their haikai will remain at this site for as long as Weblogs at Harvard Law School exists.  So, I hope readers of f/k/a will use our search function or go often to our Honored Guest Poets Index page, and click on links to each poet’s f/k/a archive.   Then, sample their wares, and let them seduce you with the charms of haiku.

In alphabetical order, and with haiku-like pith, the f/k/a Gang says: “many thanks for all that great haikai; best wishes, and ‘auf Wiedersehen’ ” to our Haiku Family: Roberta Beary, Randy Brooks; Yu Chang; Tom Clausen; Devar Dahl; Alice Frampton; Barry George; Lee Gurga;  Carolyn Hall; Gary Hotham; Jim Kacian; David G. Lanoue; Rebecca Lilly; Peggy Willis Lyles; Paul Miller; Ed Markowski; Matt Morden; Pamela Miller Ness; W.F. “Dr. Bill” Owen; Tom Painting; Andrew Riutta; John Stevenson; George Swede; Hilary Tann; Michael Dylan Welch; and Billie Wilson.

alone at sunset
i pick a pair
of faded daylilies

before
the morning rush—
the whiteness of last night’s snow

….. by David Giacalone – Legal Studies Forum (Vol. XXXII, No. 1. 2008)

Instead of further farewell fanfare regarding our Honored Guest Poets, I’m going to do what I would have done in the normal course of events this week:  Present more haikai selected as among the very best of their genre for inclusion in “white lies: Red Moon Anthology 2008” (see our prior post for details).

Here are two linked-form pieces written by three of our most-honored Guest Poets.

. . . first, a rengay by John Stevenson and Alice Frampton:

Taking Turns

another drought year
we hold our breath
as it begins to sprinkle

in and out the tide
takes the rain

between parched
and sodden lands
an exchange of emails

a rowboat turns
360 degrees

we try to be glad
when we hear our prayer
has been answered elsewhere

a smile from the child
at the hydrant

…. by John Stevenson and Alice Frampton – “white lies: Red Moon Anthology 2008”
orig. pub. Frogpond 30:3

. . . and, here’s a haibun by Jim Kacian:

it happened again

last night, the way it always happens–i slivered some
tinder for the fire, then ramped it up into an ardent
blaze that lit the undersides of the leaves.  i warmed
some food over the flames, ate it slowly and with
attention.  i washed out the pots and stared into the fire,
watching the sparks rise and fall and finally go black
against the black sky and earth.  i felt the cool come in
over the water on the winds.  i listened to its white noise.
i listened.

camping alone one star then many

…. by Jim Kacian – “white lies: Red Moon Anthology 2008”
orig. pub. -  Dover Beach and My Back Yard: British Haiku Society Haibun Anthology 2007 (Edited by Colin Blundell and Graham High)

What a strange coincidence: Just as I was announcing that this would be the last week of production for f/k/a, my friend “Ed Post” was putting together this week’s version of Blawg Review — #200!! — which opens with a link to Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger post, “If your blog died today . . . what would it be remembered for?“.  Happily, the 200th milestone for Blawg Review is not its last edition.  As its anonymous Editor puts it:

“Not to worry; we’ve come to praise Blawg Review, not to bury it. This moot funeral is not a morbid affair, but a celebration of everything good about Blawg Review.”

Like every issue of Blawg Review, this week’s puts the spotlight on the best material posted during the prior week at law-related weblogs.  As part of the 200th-edition celebration, Ed has structured this issue around an apt Traveling Wilburys metaphor — a musical group composed of rock-n-roll superstars whose collaboration magically “was greater than the sum of its parts.”

One of my favorite poems posted here at f/k/a is this senryu by lawyer-poet Barry George:

his quiet funeral—
a man who did
most of the talking

………………. by barry george

The faux funeral of “Ed Post” and his Blawg Review inspired dagosan to pen a new version this morning:

his noisy wake –
the man who let others
do most of the talking

…. by dagosan

Blawg Review, which is to say Ed and many of his hosts, has always been bery-bery good to this weblog — from giving us the Blawg Review “Creative Law Blog Award” in 2005 [see "thanks a lot (for all this pressure)," Dec. 27, 2005], to including f/k/a in Ed’s “Simply the Best” Top Ten Blawg lists [see our post, October 5, 2007], letting us host Blawg Review #52 (April 11, 2006), and mentioning our work often in the weekly Review.   Behind the scenes, Ed has also often acted as our long-distance proofreader extraordinaire (saving the Gang from many embarrassments), and as cheerleader and moral support when stress and fatigue and Weltschmerz made me want to throw in the towel.

Ed’s two stops in Schenectady to visit this cranky blawger — memorialized here and there — were testaments to the ability of the blawgiverse to create and nurture more than virtual friendships.

So, congratulations, Ed, for creating an enduring, high-quality blog carnival.  And, heartfelt thanks for all you’ve done to create and celebrate the blawger community, and done for this little weblog and its humbled Editor.

bookie’s funeral
the undertaker pays
his debt

…. by ed markowski

As usual, Ed has also reminded me that I have a lot work to do this week — crafting an auto-obituary and apologia for this weblog.   Because we tried to close down this little project once before, after only 19 weeks in busines, I guess the second (and last) time should go a little more smoothly.  See “exitedEsq: going dormant (gonna miss ya)” (October 11, 2003)  Re-reading that post, I see there were a lot of lessons I never learned and a lot of mistakes repeated since our premature death notice.

On the other hand, we got such nice obits from other bloggers (back before Denise had even coined the word “blawg”), it’s a wonder we ever started back up.  Living up to our death press was quite daunting.  See, e.g., this humble-making post by law-blog supertar Ernie Svenson, a/k/a Ernie the Attorney, “Requiem for a Heavyweight – ethicalEsq? is shutting down” (Oct. 12, 2003).   Actually, the blog-obituaries were so generous, it’s a wonder I haven’t sought even more long before now.

update: And, it’s happening again — nice words inspired by our leaving town. See Scott Greenfield’s “Phoenix Rising” (Feb. 24, 2009).

Wait, I’m supposed to be concentrating on lawyer fees this week.   I am so easy to distract.

Let’s close with a few topical poems written by lawyer-poets:

funeral dirge –
we bury the one
who could carry a tune

…. by David Giacalone – Frogpond, Vol. 31:2 (Spring/Summer 2008)
repub. “white lies: Red Moon Anthology 2008”

after the funeral
the seeds she ordered
in today’s mail

funeral over
the deadbolt
slides into place

his death notice. . .
the get-well card
still in my briefcase

… by Roberta Beary
“funeral over” – from the haibun “Stranger Danger” – Frogpond XXVIII:2 (2005)
“after” – Shiki Haikusphere 10th Anniversary Anthology (2007)
“his death notice” – New Resonance 2

at last in his coffin
depressed friend
is smiling

… by George Swede – Prune Juice (Issue 1, Winter 2009)

morning after—
what’s left of the cheese
has a bite

…. by Jim Kacian – Prune Juice (Issue 1)

.. Haiku legend Alexis Rotella has uncorked her first distillation of Prune Juice: Journal of Senryu and Kyoka (Issue 1, Winter 2009), which she describes as a biannual print and digital journal “dedicated to publishing and promoting fine senryu and kyoka in English.”  Issue 1 offers more than 130 poems by about four dozen haijin, many of them very well-known for their well-crafted poems and wry insight into human nature.

Senryu are structured like haiku, and kyoda like tanka, but their focus is different.  As Alexis explains:

“Senryu generally emphasize human foibles and frailties, usually satirically, ironically, humorously. Season words are not necessary nor usual in senryu. Kyoka have a different history than senryu; nevertheless, for modern kyoka in English, the definition is similar: a poem in the tanka form but with the satirical, ironic, humorous aspects of senryu.a poem in the tanka form but with the satirical, ironic, humorous aspects of senryu.”

Agreeing with the bumper sticker from StickEm2/CafePress, Alexis tells us that senyru “is an outlet, a therapy of sorts.”  She wants poets and readers to use senryu and kyoka to help reveal and share their real emotions, saying in her introduction to Issue I:

“I hope this issue inspires you to step up, to come and mingle with the rest of us—to make a toast with a glass of prune juice in honor of the plum blossoms who, without that delicious metaphorical elixir that gets things moving, would not exist. And if you are one who hides behind a potted plant, come out come out whoever you are.”

Alexis seeks to publish senryu and kyoka that range from “gently humorous to the most wicked satire”  — and advises that “Our tastes run towards the wicked end of the scale.”

Frankly, the curmudgeons in the f/k/a Gang like to sip, rather than swig, senryu. And, we’re a little wary (maybe even weary) of editors and poets trying to give us shocking or “wicked” poems.  So, we plan to decant our Prune Juice a little at a time. With Alexis Rotella at the helm, however, we’re pretty sure a lot of readers will be filling their cup to the brim with Prune Juice, and asking for refills.

Here are a few more poems by members of our f/k/a family of Honored Guest Poets from Prune Juice: Journal of Senryu and Kyoka (Issue 1, Winter 2009):

blind date—
the jangle
of handcuffs

……… by Roberta Beary

Instead of an air conditioner . . .
I return
with popsicles

… by Tom Clausen

new to the group—
sitting in back with
the artificial plants

… by Jim Kacian

reading of the will
cremated mother
rematerializes

the feud continues—
shoveled snow piled high
on the property line

first ice
on mother’s gravestone . . .
her tea time

…… by George Swede – Prune Juice (Issue 1, Winter 2009)

.. click for an annual subscription to the Prune Juice print edition ($32 with S&H) ..

p.s. Seven-Day Countdown: Speaking of feeling our emotions, getting things moving and setting ourselves free, the f/k/a Gang plans to stop adding to this weblog as of March 1, 2009.   It will remain online, with thousands of haiku and senryu, and a lot of law-related and cultural punditry. But, the last f/k/a posting will roll off your Editor’s fingers no later than Feb. 28, 2009. We’ll try to write a few more posts related to lawyer fees before we hang up our blawger sword; then we’ll be looking for something more enjoyable and less stressful to do online.  Naturally, we’ll have a little more to say when we sign off at the end of this week.

afterwords: Many thanks to Scott Greenfield at Simply Justice for his kindly post reacting to my announcement that f/k/a is closing down production. See “Phoenix Rising” (Feb. 24, 2009)

the pond ices over -
impressionist to
cubist overnight

early March –
the weather vane goose
still heading south

small sad face
in the puddle –
last weekend’s snowman

…….. by David Giacalone – Simply Haiku (Autumn 2006, Vol. 4 no. 3)

“As easily imagined and as was already noted by the Legislature, these ‘not in  my backyard’ local residency restrictions create great difficulties for the Division of Parole, local probation and social service agencies to locate appropriate housing for sex offenders.”

The Times Union notes:

“The conflicting decisions from the same court could send mixed messages to city police.

“Attorney Terence Kindlon, whose firm is suing the county pro bono, said he believes it would be ‘more intelligent than not to refrain from prosecuting these cases’.”

” . . . Detective James Miller, a spokesman for the Albany Department of Public Safety, said officers in the city will keep making arrests.

As the Times Union Politics Blog noted yesterday evening, “Amid all this, state Supreme Court Justice Roger McDonough is still considering a constitutional challenge to county law nearly identical to the one made in Rockland.”  Justice McDonough has a summary judgment motion before him in the suit mentioned above brought by Terence Kindlon.

It’s clear that we need statewide action on sex offenders.  However, we also need politicians who will have the courage to oppose counterproductive and ineffective residency bans — like the fear-mongering S.01300, proposed by Senate Majority Leader Malcolm A. Smith — that prevent whole classes of sex offenders from living in most populated areas, rather than allowing professionals to locate housing most appropriate for each individual sex offender.  See our prior post “don’t let a bad idea go statewide” (Feb. 2, 2009).  If courage is lacking, perhaps politically-motivated leaders from rural areas of the state will rise up against S.01300, which will force many sex offenders to live in less-populated areas.

p.s. See the informative Wall Street Journal article “After Prison, Few Places for Sex Offenders to Live: Georgia’s Rules That Keep Some Convicted Felons Far From Children Create Challenges for Compliance, Enforcement” (Feb. 19, 2009; via Corey Yung)

Need a more inspiring subject to head you toward the weekend?  How about more haiku from the latest issue of Frogpond [Vol. 32:1 (Winter 2009)], written by our Honored Guest Poets?

windowless classroom
we talk about thinking
outside the box

Appalachian spring
can I still learn
to play the violin

…. by Yu Chang – Frogpond Vol. 32:1 (Winter 2009)

lovers still
a falling petal
catches moonlight

fern fronds
tightly coiled–
the fetus kicks

…. by Peggy Willis Lyles – Frogpond Vol. 32:1 (Winter 2009)

she would have
polished the silver
Mom’s memorial

dogwood blossoms
Mom’s ashes
lighter than expected

…. by Carolyn Hall – Frogpond Vol. 32:1 (Winter 2009)

late August
eel grass
breaks the surface

…. by Hilary Tann – Frogpond Vol. 32:1 (Winter 2009)

• Teaser: Schenectady Police Officer Dwayne Johnson made three times his base pay last year, while averaging 75 hours a week on the clock (making him, at $168,000, the highest paid employee in Schenectady’s history).  However, after several late-night stakeouts, Schenectady Gazette reporter Kathleen Moore reported yesterday that Officer Johnson has been parking his car outside a local apartment that is not his home for a few hours every Tuesday night since November, during his patrol shift.   Despite being tracked by a GPS monitor in his unit, no supervisor caught the apparent dereliction of duty.  See “Chief: Cop ’stealing time’: Johnson, tops in pay, out of car during shift“  (by Kathleen Moore, Feb. 18, 2009).

Responding to the question from Schenectady Police Chief Mark Chaires, “how dumb can you get?”, Scott points out that “neither Chief Chaires nor anybody else on the force thinks that somebody ought to take the occasional gander at their top earner, the big money man, to make sure they are getting their money’s worth?” Scott then muses: “How dumb? Not as dumb as you, Chief.”

Follow-ups today (Feb. 19, 2009): “Cop case probed for collusion: Chief wants to know why supervisors didn’t notice AWOL officer’s absences” (Daily Gazette , Feb. 19, 2009); “Editorial: In Sch’dy, Car 10, where are you?” (Daily Gazette, Feb. 19, 2009; “He deserves to be fired, and anybody but a union officer or lawyer, or perhaps arbitrator, would agree.”); “High-paid cop accused of slacking off” (WNYT/CH.13, Feb. 18, 2009, with video); “Did Schenectady’s $168G cop spend hours away? Schenectady probes whether highest-paid officer was at apartment while on duty” (Albany Times Union, February 19, 2009); “Tarnishing the badge: A decade of trouble for Schenectady police” (Times Union, by Paul Nelson, Feb. 19, 2009)

update (Feb. 20, 2009): The Gazette tells us this morning that Officer Johnson was “suspended without pay Thursday while the department investigates the extent of his absences during his overnight patrols.”  He apparently will have to be paid if kept on suspension longer than 30 days. “Absent officer out for month: Bennett begins cop AWOL probe; union issues cited” (Feb. 20, 2009).  I’m surprised that Public Safety Commissioner Wayne Bennett believes “it will take well over a month to finish the investigation into Johnson’s absences. Also under review are the supervisors who did not notice them and the officers who may have tipped him off when internal affairs attempted to catch him in the act early last Tuesday.”  I’m not surprised that he expects the police union to argue napping has become a “past practice,” approved regularly by lower-level supervisors, that cannot be changed without union approval.

The Gazette notes that “Some officers, who spoke anonymously, say everyone who works long shifts takes naps, beginning at lunchtime. They argued that an unspoken rule in the department allows napping to continue after lunch as long as police get up as soon as they get a call.”  Bennett says: “If someone had the absolute and unmitigated gall to call [napping] a past practice, well, supervisors do not have that kind of authority to authorize that.”

In his update this morning at Simple Justice, Scott Greenfield trumpets “The new frontier for police contracts: Napping Clauses.”

Officer Johnson is 49 years old and apparently considers a double shift to be his regular work day.  The f/k/a Gang understands the need to nap (although, altogether, we alter egos aren’t working 75 hours a week), but we agree with the Gazette that if the conduct is proven, Officer Johnson should be fired.  At the very least, some major auditing of his time records is needed, plus more scrutiny of his so-called supervisors.

Undercover? Lawyer Greenfield concludes: “But don’t fear that Johnson will go unpunished. My bet is that his wife will have a few questions about what he was doing in that apartment every Tuesday morning.”

We don’t get paid overtime (nor anytime) here at f/k/a, but we’re always workin’ hard trying to bring you some of the best haiku around.  As promised yesterday, here are poems written by a few of our Honored Guest Poets that were selected for the newest issue of Frogpond [Vol. 32:1, Winter 2009].  We’ll have another batch later this week.

turning back on a dead end street –
one odor changes
another

… by Gary Hotham – Frogpond Vol. 32:1 (Winter 2009)

heat lightning the crooked split in the watermelon

… by w.f. owen – Frogpond Vol. 32:1 (Winter 2009)

second honeymoon
a flock of turnstones
skirt the shore

dry spell
a field sparrow flashes
burnt umber

… by Tom Painting – Frogpond Vol. 32:1 (Winter 2009)

full moon–
I finally share the secret
with my cat

….. by Alice Frampton – Frogpond Vol. 32:1 (Winter 2009)

fallen leaves
ornament
the small fir

the barren windbreak sifting a rainy fog

…. by Tom Clausen – Frogpond Vol. 32:1 (Winter 2009)

winter night
the heat comes on
between us

a retinal sun
wanders through
the observation car

… by John Stevenson – Frogpond Vol. 32:1 (Winter 2009)

our long bathtub soak – 
a ring around
the moon

…. by David Giacalone – Frogpond Vol. 32:1 (Winter 2009)

p.s. Speaking of criminal justice in Schenectady, the print version of the Daily Gazette has an article on p. B3 titled “Imposter [sic] suspect in Regents exam faces lesser charge” (Feb. 19, 2009).  In it we learn that District Attorney Robert Carney won’t be charging Deandre M. Ellis with burglary [illegally entering a building intending to commit another crime] for entering a Schenectady school to take a Regents exam in disguise for another student.  We were doubtful of the arresting officers’ legal reasoning in a post on Jan. 29, 2009 (scroll to second story).  Instead, Ellis is being charged with misdemeanor criminal impersonation, which he denied at his arraignment yesterday. DA Carney explains that “There has to be some sort of notice or communication to [a] person that ‘you’re not welcome’ to convert [entering a public building like a school] to a trespass,” on which to hang a burglary count.  According to the Gazette:

“But Carney likened the case to a shoplifter.  Anyone is allowed in a store, until they’re asked to leave. But a shoplifter isn’t charged with burglary, Carney said, even though they may have entered with the intent to steal.”

Tonsorial-forensic experts should note a mystery raised in the case:  Ellis wore a wig when posing as a female student in January.  As you can see above, he has short spiky hair in his mug shot.  But, three weeks later, he appeared in court with “long hair, past his shoulders.”  Neither Ellis nor his public defender were willing to comment on the issue.   Could it be Ellis will claim he always goes around in the long wig and therefore was not trying to impersonate the female student?

..  two good ideas from Schenectady County . .

]]> http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/2009/02/19/officer-johnsons-undercover-operation/feed/ 0 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/2009/02/18/frogpond-brings-hsa-winners/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/2009/02/18/frogpond-brings-hsa-winners/#comments Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:22:22 +0000 David Giacalone http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/?p=10626 ..  The newest issue of Frogpond [Vol. 32:1, Winter 2009], the journal of the Haiku Society of America, arrived at my door this snowy February afternoon.  Frogpond always has a lot of winning haiku, but this issue also announces the winners of HSA’s most prestigious annual contests: The 2008 Kanterman Merit Book Awards for best published books in 2007; the 2008 Henderson Award for best haiku; and the 2008 Brady Award for best senryu.

As usual, several of f/k/a’s Honored Guest Poets have been honored this year.

• John Stevenson received 1st and 3rd place awards in the Harold G. Henderson Haiku Contest for 2008:

Thanksgiving–
fifteen minutes
of mince pie

[1st Place, 2008 Henderson Contest]

butterfly
my attention
attention span

[3rd Place, 2008 Henderson Contest]

• Michael Dylan Welch won 2nd Place in the Gerald Brady Memorial Contest for 2008, with this senryu:

busy Italian restaurant–
happy birthday
sung to the wrong table

[2nd Place, 2008 Brady contest]

• Among the Mildred Kanterman Memorial Book Awards for 2008:

• Roberta Beary’s The Unworn Necklace (Snapshot Press 2007) placed third [find poems and discussion at f/k/a here]
• While Matt Morden’s Stumbles in Clover (Snapshot Press 2007; discussed here at f/k/a) shared Honorable Mention honors with Gary Hotham’s Missed Appointment (Lilliput Review 2007; featured at f/k/a in posts here and there)
• The Best Anthology award went to Jim Kacian’s Big Sky – The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2006 (Red Moon Press 2007; find sample poems at the bottom of this prior post)
• The Best Haibun award went to “Dr. Bill” w.f. owen for his book small events (Red Moon Press 2007)

.. In the very near future, we’ll share poems from the Winter 2009 issue of Frogpond written by our Honored Guests (update: go here and there).  Below the fold, you will find a list of all the winners from the three contests described above (soon, you will be able to find all the winning poems and the comments of the judges by clicking on the link for each contest at the HSA Haiku Contests page):

Mildred Kanterman Memorial Book Awards for 2008 (judged by George G. Dorsty and Marie Summers):

• First Place: Desert Hours by Marian Olson (LIly Pool Press 2007)
• Second Place: The Whole Body Singing by Quendryth Young (self-published)
• Third Place: The Unworn Necklace by Roberta Beary (Snapshot Press 2007)
• Honorable Mention [tie]: Stumbles in Clover by Matt Morden and Missed Appointment by Gary Hotham (Lilliput Press 20007)
• Best Translation: The Rabbit in the Moon by Kayoko Hashimoto
• The Best Anthology: Big Sky - The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2006 (Edited by Jim Kacian and the Red Moon Editorial Staff, Red Moon Press 2007)
• The Best Haibun: small events by w.f. owen (Red Moon Press 2007)

.. Harold G. Henderson Haiku Contest for 2008 (judged by Jennie Townsend and Christopher Patchel):

• First Place: John Stevenson
• Second Place: Kristen Deming
• Third Place: John Stevenson
• Honorable Mention (unrankes): Garry Gay, Linda Jeannette Ward

Gerald Brady Memorial Contest for 2008 (judged by Alexis Rotella and Scott Mason):

• First Place: David P. Grayson ..
• Second Place: Michael Dylan Welch
• Third Place: Margaret Chula
• Honorable Mentions (unranked): Kenneth Elba Carrier, Marian Olson, Catherine J.S. Lee, Robert Mainone

“Is there any reason to think the ‘like’ factor is different for law faculty success. At least in football there will be an objective measure of success and an opportunity to cut players. In law school hiring there are no measures and the initial hiring decisions are for lifetime jobs.”

Prof. Harrison concludes by opining that likability “sounds like a great approach if you are deciding who you want to go down to the bar with after school for a drink — which sadly may be the standard by which much hiring is done. It’s a disaster for the stakeholders of a law school.”

In response, Gabriella Montelle wrote “They Like Me, They Like Me Not” (February 12, 2009) at her On Hiring weblog on the Chronicles of Higher Education website.  She invited readers to answer two questions:

“Is likability a reasonable consideration in hiring, firing, and tenure decisions or do some committees place too great an emphasis on it? How does it factor into hiring decisions in your department?”

Montelle’s piece attracted a variety of responses, and one Comment by a “humanities doctoral candidate” ["HDC"] impressed Louisville U. law dean Jim Chen so much, he turned it into a separate posting at MoneyLaw called “You like me” (Feb. 13, 2009). [Chen's "Rocket man" post over the weekend about the remarkably valuable yet unselfish play of NBA player Shane Battier may also be related, as part of his ongoing talent versus character debate. via Simple Justice].  Commentor HDC’s insights included saying:

“The really good scholars are self-confident, and that confidence allows them to treat everyone else with respect and kindness. They are excited about ideas, and they are willing to share. Most of all, they are willing to collaborate — they are the ones organizing symposia, inviting guest speakers, cultivating graduate students, and just generally creating the kind of atmosphere where good work flourishes and everyone benefits.

Meanwhile, Jeff Harrison wrote “But will you love me tomorrow” (Feb. 13, 2009) in answer to Dean Chen, saying that in the faculty context likability or “niceness” is the code for “are you someone with whom I will be socially and politically comfortable.” He insists that “Nice in a faculty meeting is only slightly connected to morality, selflessness, or charity.”  Going back to the football analogy, Harrison concludes:

“If personal social and political comfort are critical in determining who gets an offer to join your faculty, it’s like a team thinking more about getting drunk together than winning games.”

An anonymous commentor then told Prof. Harrison that the football analogy was not as apt for a faculty as a comparison to a baseball team.  Using Barry Bonds as an example, he states:

“In other words, superstars are worthless if they create a bad vibe in the clubhouse. . . . but the point is, good scholars who aren’t good colleagues are not worth having around, and whatever is ‘good’ about their scholarship will be worthless if they aren’t the sort of person who can get along with colleagues, train students, and just generally make their work environment a pleasant place to be.”

In my experience, HDC and the anonymous commentor have it right.  As Jim Harrison suggests, faculty should not be trying to hire or promote only persons who fit within their personal socio-ideological comfort zone.  But, they would do well to look for colleagues who match brilliance with unselfishness and congeniality — or, to be more precise, a person who is “genial” in the sense suggested in Merriam-Webster’s definition:

3 a: favorable to growth or comfort . . . b: marked by or diffusing sympathy or friendliness
4: displaying or marked by genius

Naturally (this being the cranky old f/k/a Gang speaking), we do not mean “nice” like the smiley-faced gladhanders with gold stars for every student and colleague.  Nor do we mean “nice” in Harrison’s sense of “just like me,”  as sameness is boring and intellectual quicksand.  Law school faculties need bright minds willing to challenge individuals and institutions, and debate issues of law and policy — but, there is no reason to accept less than respect for eachother and agreeable disagreement. [You need, of course, to respect colleagues and students enough to ask hard questions and expect rigorous thinking.]

Law faculty jobs are far too desirable and desired for us to believe that faculty or students have to put up with jerks and selfish manipulators in order to assure brilliance in scholarship or in the classroom.   Because there are more than enough more-than-capable candidates, there should be a preference for the genial over the jerkish.  That preference may in fact turn out to be a wonderful tool for behavior modification.

In his posting 2007 “talent versus character,” Jim Chen notes how often others have been enablers, willing to justify the odious conduct of a faculty member by saying “He’s a smart guy. Brilliant, even.” That echoed my assertion that same year that:

[H]aving a high IQ is never an excuse for having a low EQ; it’s a reason to demand that our leaders (and our kids) demonstrate and nurture a robust “Emotional Intelligence.”

Daniel Goleman introduced most of us to the notion of EQ, in his 1996 bestseller Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ. (well-reviewed here; click for a quick recap of the “Four Components of Emotional Intelligence“) . . . I’m still amazed at how many otherwise-sensible people are willing to overlook or excuse the emotional immaturity and ineptness of a colleague, friend or family member (and the harm it causes other people), if the low-EQ is attached to a significantly high IQ — and, especially, if accompanied by a large bank account or a powerful position. I think having a high IQ makes the failure to appreciate, nurture and develop ones EQ rather inexcusable.

It was two years ago this week that we wrote about Robert I Sutton’s then-new book “The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t” (Warner Business Books, 2007, and an identically-titled article in American Lawyer/Law.com (Feb. 20, 2007).  The article explains:

“According to Bob, an asshole is one who oppresses, humiliates, de-energizes, or belittles his target (generally someone less powerful then himself), causing the target to feel worse about herself following an interaction with the asshole. (And, as his examples prove, this behavior is not by any means limited to male perpetrators or female victims.) These jerks use tactics such as personal insults, sarcasm and teasing as vehicles for insults, shaming, and treating people as if they’re invisible to demean others. Sutton distinguishes temporary assholes . . . from certified assholes, who routinely show themselves to be nasty people. The latter, he argues, must go [from the workplace].”

A$$holes surely do not belong in law offices (even though many clients think they want such characters to champion their causes).  They’re even less appropriate in legal academia — especially, when their nasty little show is turned on “impressionable” law students, the very people paying their salaries.

Sutton’s book offers a 24-question self-test to see if you are “a certifiable asshole.” You can take Sutton’s Asshole Rating Self-Exam (ARSE) at Guy Kawasaki’s ElectricPulp website. Search and tenure committees might want to ask themselves how their candidates might fare if they took ARSE and answered honestly.

At her Chronicles of Higher Education weblog, Ms. Mentor advised last week that “They’re Out to Get Me: No matter how good you are at your work, your colleagues won’t keep you if they don’t like you” (Feb. 10, 2009).  She says this advice is especially important in perilous times like now, when jobs that once seemed secure seem quite shaky; and she asks whether “your colleagues already avoid you as a sour, combative personality — someone who’ll waste department energy on vendettas?”.  I’d like to think that law schools would insist on basic geniality from each of their faculty members in good times, too.  In the long run, their “stakeholders” deserve both brilliance and high EQ from every law professor.  There are far too many willing candidates to settle for any less.

p.s. Blawging with EQ: If you have a preference for thoroughness and straight-talk, and also wonder who’s been writing good material at lawyer weblogs, check out Mark Bennett’s Blawg Review #199, at his Defending People blawg.

We can’t promise you consistently high EQ here at f/k/a, but we’ll try our best.  What we do promise is consistently high-quality haiku.  For example, here’s another installment in our project presenting poems from past issues of Modern Haiku.  They’re written by poets who later became members of our f/k/a Honored Guest family. Here are more from Modern Haiku Vol. XXVIII: 1 (Winter-Spring 1997), which have not appeared before here at f/k/a:

almost 200 years of air–
in the room
George Washington died

…. by Gary Hotham – Modern Haiku Vol. XXVIII: 1

..

On the boardwalk
a blind man listens to the sea
finding its way back

… by George Swede – Modern Haiku Vol. XXVIII: 1

water splashing down–
the warmth of the sun
on my eyelids

little waterfall–
they come to see
why we’re not speaking

pushing in walnuts
with my heel–
autumn rain

… by Lee Gurga – Modern Haiku Vol. XXVIII: 1

fall rains
the spring
of mushrooms

tail tucked,
a collie skirts
the bungee jumpers

lunar eclipse
my son
whispering

.. by John Stevenson – Modern Haiku Vol. XXVIII: 1

moonless night
the darkness deepest
where the snowy owl was

… by Yu Chang – Modern Haiku Vol. XXVIII: 1

]]> http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/2009/02/16/a-preference-for-congeniality/feed/ 2 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/2009/02/13/valentine-flamingos-return-to-the-stockade/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/2009/02/13/valentine-flamingos-return-to-the-stockade/#comments Sat, 14 Feb 2009 00:27:13 +0000 David Giacalone http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/?p=10603

.. they’re back: Lawrence’s Valentine Flamingos, 2009  ..

As we reported in detail this time last year in “Lawrence and the Flamingos – a Stockade Valentine mystery,” a flock of pink flamingos (genus “phoenicopteris ruber plasticus“) has been returning each Valentine’s Day to the traffic circle home of Lawrence the Indian, at the intersection of Front, Ferry and Green Streets, in Schenectady’s Stockade neighborhood.  The f/k/a Gang planned to be up at sunrise on Saturday, February 14th, to see whether our Valentine Flamingo miracle would continue in 2009, and to snap some pictures, if it did.

To our surprise, while strolling the neighborhood at sunset tonight, February 13, the “flamboyance” of fourteen flamingos had already landed at the feet of Lawrence.  We don’t know if the blustery winds blowing the past two days across the Northeast accounts for their premature arrival, but Valentine romantics will have even more time to enjoy this Stockade Valentine tradition.

.. . . . . . . . . . . . . ..

.. sunset, Feb. 13, 2009, photos by D.A. Giacalone ..

.. ..

The light wasn’t great for this amateur photographer to capture the event this evening, but the photos above surely hint at the joy the big pink birds bring to Valentine lovers and Stockade residents each year (thanks to two flamingo shepherds who want to remain anonymous).  We promise to take more photos tomorrow in full daylight and add them below, along with a flock of flamingo haiku and senryu.

To whet your appetite, here are two haiku written specifically for this year’s Stockade Flamingo event by Roberta Beary, our lawyer friend and much-honored haiku poet:

peeking out
of his daughter’s blouse
flamingo tattoo

sober now
dad uprights
the flamingo

… by Roberta Beary for f/k/a’s Flamingo Flamboyance 2009

[Click to read the Schenectady Gazette's coverage of the 2008 arrival of the flamingos.]

Valentine stroll
neither lover mentions
the pink flamingos

…………. by dagosan

first warm day
she plants
the pink flamingo

.. by ed markowski – Modern Haiku (2008)

. . . . continued (Saturday morning, February 14, 2009):

.. ..

two pink flamingos
& a waitress named Sally…
summer begins

… by ed markowski

.. ..

frost on
the flamingo’s beak -
Valentine breakfast alone

… by dagosan

Snapping photos with near-frozen fingers around 8 AM this morning, I couldn’t help but feel a bit of Valentine empathy for poor old Lawrence, standing there like a prop among the flamboyantly romantic flamingos, and gazing longingly again today at the lovely clientele of Arthur’s Market.  You may recall that our Lawrence statue was originally a carving done by wood carver Samuel Anderson Robb, about 1860, for cigar-store-Indian vendor William Demuth.  In DeMuth’s 1872 catalog, Lawrence is listed as“No. 53 Indian Chief.”  Like the shy and proud Kaw-Lija (lyrics) Lawrence “never got a kiss.“  As Hank Williams sung in 1952:

Kaw-Lija, was a lonely Indian never went nowhere
His heart was set on the Indian maiden with the coal black hair
Kaw-Lija-A, just stood there and never let it show
So she could never answer “YES” or “NO”.

Click for a YouTube clip of  “Kaw-Lija” (performed by Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, Jr. at the Grand Olde Opry).  Please, don’t be an “ol’ wooden head” like Kaw-Lija and Lawrence — take a risk and let her know you care.  Maybe next Valentine will be a little less lonely, and you’ll be viewing the Stockade Flamingos hand-in-hand.

signs of summer
on the pink flamingo
an empty beer can

.. by ed markowski

visit home
the pink flamingo’s
cracked wing

………… by Roberta Beary

parting her pink robe
–daybreak

…………… by Yu Chang, from A New Resonance (1999)

– hurry: you’ve only got ’til sunset to catch the Valentine flamingos –

pink envelope
Valentine hugs and kisses
from Mom

……. by dagosan

update (Feb. 15, 2009):  The Sunday Albany Times Union has an entertaining article about the Valentine Flamingos.  See “Pink flamingos back in Stockade.”  Reporter Paul Grondahl says:

“Nobody has claimed credit for spawning this quirky urban mystery. Of course, nobody’s trying too hard to crack the case and spoil the suspension of disbelief.

“The sheer audacity and cockeyed romanticism of this random act of oddity inspired the first sing-along in front of the flamingos.”

No one told the f/k/a Gang to show up to participate or snap a few shots. Nevertheless, you can click to see a YouTube Stockade 2009 Valentine video, with photos by Mabel Leon and Beverly Elander (produced by Jennifer Wells).  Due to a technical malfunction, you won’t hear zany Stockadians singing Rogers & Hart’s “My Funny Valentine,” but will have to settle for a performance by Carly Simon and Frank Sinatra.

Another long-legged-avian Valentine tradition: The Heron’s Nest Readers’ Choice Awards (f/k/a Valentine Awards):  Managing Editor John Stevenson announced this morning (Feb. 14, 2009) the winners of the Ninth Annual Readers’ Choice Awards, for the best haiku in The Heron’s Nest of 2008 (Vol. X, which is also available in a paper edition).  Congratulations to all the winners.

Poem of the Year: Fay Aoyagi had the Poem of the Year, which can be seen here.  Runners-up honors for best poem went to Burnell Lippy, Christopher Herold, and Harriot West.

Grand Prize, Poet of the Year, went to Burnell Lippy for his consistently fine haiku. Runners-up honors went to Carolyn Hall, Christopher Herold and Gary Hotham.    Carolyn and Gary are, of course, f/k/a Honored Guest poets.  Carolyn is a perennial winner of haijin awards, and Gary seems to be more active again writing his much-admired poetry for leading haiku journals.   For a little Valentine reflection, here are a pair by each of them from The Heron’s Nest Vol. X:

enough sunrise —
a small window
in an old hotel

playground swings —
a strong wind replaces
the children

…. by Gary Hotham – The Heron’s Nest X (2008)

an eagle sighting —
the frailty
in my father’s hug

needles of rain
the talk show guest
addresses my problem

…. by Carolyn Hall – The Heron’s Nest X (2008)

.. ..

]]> http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/2009/02/13/valentine-flamingos-return-to-the-stockade/feed/ 0 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/2009/02/12/celebrating-lincoln-and-darwin/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/2009/02/12/celebrating-lincoln-and-darwin/#comments Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:43:47 +0000 David Giacalone http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/ethicalesq/?p=10584 . . Abe Lincoln . . born February 12, 1809 . . Charles Darwin .

My plan to start spending a lot less time weblogging has run smack up against the intriguing coincidence of today’s joint birth bicentennial for Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin.  Some commentators think it’s too much of a stretch trying to link the two great men based merely on their birth date.  As with the use of juxtaposition in good haiku, however, I’ve found the comparison — including contrasts, similarities, and differences –  to be an interesting and illuminating way to recall what each man has meant to their own times and to ours, and to look at both men in new ways.

There have been two recent books focusing on Darwin and Lincoln together, as unique human beings and towering historical figures:

• “Rebel Giants: The Revolutionary Lives of Abraham Lincoln & Charles Darwin”
  by David R. Contosta (Prometheus Books, 2008)

• “Angels and Ages: A Short Book About Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life” by Adam Gopnik (Knopf, 2009)

If you’re too busy Twittering, actually working, or merely napping, to find and read either or both of them, I’d suggest making the time for two articles that do a good job with the task of comparing Lincoln and Darwin:

“Who Was More Important: Lincoln or Darwin?” by Malcolm Jones (Newsweek, July 7, 2009)

Illustration: Bryan Christie Design; photos: Corbis … ..

.. “How Lincoln and Darwin Shaped the Modern World” by Adam Gopnik (Smithsonian Magazine, February 2009; illustration by Joe Ciardiello)

Also see the first 16 minutes of Gopnik on Charlie Rose (Feb. 4, 2009; the remainder of the interview is an Appreciation of John Updike)

Lincoln and Darwin are both known for ideas (emancipation and evolution, respectively) that threatened powerful vested interests and deep-held beliefs.  The books and articles mentioned above describe the importance of their theories — and the importance of the personal characteristics and social environment of each man in shaping their life’s work.   I’m going to focus here on another important similarity.  As Adam Gopnik says:

“Darwin and Lincoln helped remake our language and forge a new kind of rhetoric that we still respond to in politics and popular science alike. They particularized in everything, and their general vision rises from the details and the nuance, their big ideas from small sightings. They shared logic as a form of eloquence, argument as a style of virtue, close reasoning as a form of uplift. Each, using a kind of technical language—the fine, detailed language of naturalist science for Darwin; the tedious language of legal reasoning for the American—arrived at a new ideal of liberal speech.”

In Newsweek, Malcolm Jones wrote:

“Lincoln united the North behind him with an eloquence so timeless that his words remain fresh no matter how many times you read them. Darwin wrote one of the few scientific treatises, maybe the only one, worth reading as a work of literature. Both of them demand to be read in the original, not in paraphrase, because both men are so much in their prose. To read them is to know these elusive figures a little better. Given their influence on our lives, these are men you want to know.”

” . . . The quality of Darwin’s mind is in evidence everywhere in this book, but so is his character—generous, open-minded and always respectful of those who he knew would disagree with him, as you might expect of a man who was, after all, married to a creationist.”

“. . . Lincoln, no less than Mark Twain, forged what we think of today as the American style: forthright, rhythmic, muscular, beautiful but never pretty. As Douglas L. Wilson observes in “Lincoln’s Sword,” his brilliant analysis of the president’s writing, Lincoln was political, not literary, but he was, every bit as much as Melville or Thoreau, “perfecting a prose that expressed a uniquely American way of apprehending and ordering experience.” What Lincoln says and how he says it are one. You cannot imagine the Gettysburg Address or the Second Inaugural in words other than those in which they are conveyed.

In addition to the notion of their “beautiful but never pretty” writing style, Jones also describes characteristics of the two men that remind me very much of some of my favorite haiku poets:

” . . . Like Darwin, Lincoln was a compulsive scribbler, forever jotting down phrases, notes and ideas on scraps of paper, then squirreling the notes away in a coat pocket, a desk drawer—or sometimes his hat—where they would collect until he found a use for them in a letter, a speech or a document. He was also a compulsive reviser.”

Putting yourself in your writing; valuing logic and clear prose; paying attention to details and being open to new ways of looking at the world; and advocating strongly-held beliefs even when some of your closest kith and kin disagree:  these are all characteristics worth emulating, as we think of two famous men who were born two hundred years ago today.

p.s. If you’re interested, we’ve written quite a few times on Lawyer Lincoln.

Our time is up for blogging today.  We’ll leave you with the next installment in our project presenting poems from past issues of Modern Haiku written by poets who later became members of our f/k/a Honored Guest family.

Here are three from Modern Haiku Vol. XXVIII: 1 (Winter-Spring 1997), written by our haiku friend Tom Clausen.  We’ll delve further into XXVIII:1 over the next few days.

freed from the cat–
baby meadow lark
all speckles

all the panes broken–
in and out of the mill
pigeons fly

garage door open
at the funeral home—
nothing there

… by Tom Clausen – Modern Haiku Vol. XXVIII: 1

Valentine’s Day –
a new sign says
“Thin Ice”

… by dagosan

.. Valentine’s Day has often brought out the curmudgeonly side of the f/k/a Gang.  [see, e.g., our posts "not really in a Valentine mood" and "off-peak romance"]   This year, JC Penney’s declaration of Doghouse Prevention Week has turned the secretly-romantic Prof. Yabut into a growling cur, rather than a lapdog.  Penney’s wants men to know that “No Bad Gift Will Go Unpunished,” and its Beware of the Doghouse website allows sweethearts to send their guy a warning or even list him as being In the Doghouse.  Naturally, in addition to graphic examples of what happens in the doghouse, there are many (expensive) suggestions on how to avoid or get out of Casa Canine.

We are not impressed.  Instead, we repeat our contention from 2005 that “Cherries in the Snow” author Emma Forrest makes a very good point:

“Love is so delicate, you can’t afford to risk it on fake holiday.” (AP/Nashua Telegraph,  “British author had no need for Valentine’s Day rubbish,” Feb. 20, 2005)

All quips aside about stimulus (or stimulated) packages, our economic crisis seems like a perfect opportunity for Valentine lovers (and even spouses) to let each other know it’s the thought not the price tag that counts.  Indeed, in today’s Schenectady Gazette article “Economy tops love this year: Retailers expect recession to cut into Valentine’s Day spending” (February 11, 2009), we learn that “Low-cost items this Valentine’s are expected to have greater sway over lovers on the prowl for gifts.”  For example, folks are buying half-pound boxes of candy rather than the larger heart-shaped offerings at Krause’s in Colonie. [Sharing fewer calories has many other advantages of course, in a nation where waistlines and bottoms keep expanding, even when the economy shrinks.]

The Gazette also reports that “The National Retail Federation said American adults are expected to spend an average of $102.50 on Valentine’s gifts and merchandise, compared with $122.98 a year earlier.”  In addition,

“BISWorld Research, a Los Angeles market research firm, earlier this month projected holiday card sales to rise over the year by 1.1 percent and candy sales to increase 0.9 percent. But holiday apparel, dining out and jewelry are forecast to take the biggest hits, declining 6.7 percent, 6.1 percent and 5.1 percent, respectively.

More cards and fewer diamonds sounds like a good trend to us.   However, if you’re heading for the doghouse, we suggest you click to hear Hank Williams’ plaintive request that his good dog “Move It on Over” and let the bad dog squeeze in, too.

If you’d like to tell your beloved how you feel in more than one language, click here for “Valentine’s Day phrases in 8 languages.”

Now’s a great time to reprise Roberta Beary’s haibun from Modern Haiku (Vol. 39:1, Winter 2008):

What I Mean Is

everyone knows everything old people know only the good die young and kids know parents don’t know it all and teachers know students wait until the day before the project is due and you and i both know that love doesn’t conquer anything in fact it doesn’t even come close

as if it mattered
i pocket
a red leaf

………………………………… by Roberta Beary, Modern Haiku 39:1 (2008)

And a couple of senryu by Ed Markowski:

valentine’s day
we do nothing
different

valentine’s day
the sensous curves
of a snow drift

…………. by ed markowski

p.s. National Inventors’ Day (February 11): If the love of your life loves creativity and service to humanity, Prof. Yabut suggests you remind her (or him) that February 11th is both Thomas A. Edison’s birthday and National Inventors’ Day. (via Securing Innovation weblog, which has a familiarly-anonymous editor).  If you really want to impress her, bring her to the far-too-little-known Edison Exploratorium in downtown Schenectady.   The Exploratorium aims to “preserve, promote and celebrate the unique heritage of Edison and the pioneers who gave birth to the electric age here in ‘The Original Electric City’.”  You might get sent to the doghouse for giving her an electric iron, washing machine or microwave oven, but you’ll light up her eyes with exhibits filled with those and other items pioneered in Schenectady.

Can’t make it to Schenectady?  You can find dozens of YouTube clips from the Edison Exploratorium, including one featuring Charles P. Steinmetz, General Electric’s Chief Engineer and Scientist (1865 – 1923), who wanted to use inventions like the production and distribution of energy:

“to develop the most perfect civilization the world has ever seen.  The civilization not for a minority depending on the labor of masses of slaves or serfs but a real civilization of benefit to all the members of the human race.”

…. finally, our lonely-guy 2008 Valentine haiga (photo Mama G. 1951):

. . We didn’t “phone this one in,” but we woulda if we coulda.

frigid night
the radiator wakes me,
lulls me to sleep

… by dagosan

.. How would you have answered Jacob A. Stein’s headline question in his newest Legal Spectator column, “Did You Read the Latest Opinion of the Supreme Court?” (Washington Lawyer, February 2009).  The sage columnist lists 37 possible answers, but you should feel free to add 38.  Other ______________ .

To give you a taste, here’s a dozen replies offered by Stein. (The f/k/a Gang are leaning toward #17.)

1.  I read about it in Linda Greenhouse’s story in The New York Times.

4. I read the headnotes, or was it the syllabus?
5. I read about it in the newsletter we send to clients.

7. Let’s just say I flipped through it.
8. I liked that strong language in the dissent.

11. Is it filled with original intent?

17.  I usually take it to bed with me. It must be under the covers.
18. Congress will take care of it, just you wait and see.
19. Was it another punitive damages case, or was it the gun case?

30. Why don’t they televise the arguments?

36.  How much of these opinions do the clerks write?
37.  I am going into the hospital for some minor surgery, and I will read it there.

……. What about Dan Hull? Forget the disparaging remarks of Ron Baker, Kevin O’Keefe and Enrico Schaefer, what am I ever going to do about JD Hull.  Over at his What About Clients? weblog, Dan insists on saying really nice things about me — or, at least about someone named David Giacalone at f/k/a who bears little or no resemblance to your cranky Editor.  For recent examples, see here (”the blawgosphere’s spiritual leader David Giacalone . . . is the only sensitive guy we ever liked even a little bit”) and there (”spiritual leader and technical adviser in one person . . . Keep reading him”).  When I leave comments asking for retractions, Dan forgets to post them.  So, let’s get a few of things straight:

• if you come here for either spiritual or technical advcse, you need a Plan B
• we’re trying to keep a low profile these days, and our pundit necks are more likely to be in our shells than stuck out very far trying to make waves, pass judgments, or garner links
• we’ve been unsuccessfully striving for haiku- and zen-like humility at f/k/a for almost six years;  Hull’s hallelujahs are not helping
• we know Dan is not merely fishing for mutual compliments, ’cause he’s got one of the most-praised weblogs in the entire blawgiverse (see the left-SideBar on his WAC home page); so, we’re starting to get paranoid about hidden agendas and anxious about living up to Dan’s high expectations.  Humbled and honored.  But, mostly humbled.

Despite the above lapse in judgment, Dan seems to be on the mark with his list of “The Big Six must-reading lawyer sites” for quickly and efficiently getting “all the news–and new ideas” from lawyer weblogs.  He also does a very good job there limning the legal profession’s young Slackoiesie.

spring thunder
dust from a slap
on the horse’s rump

… by w.f. owen – white lies: RMA 2008
orig pub. Mainichi Daily News #706

Fibs and White Lies:  Dan Hull’s praise quite naturally reminds us to continue to bring you selections from “white lies: Red Moon Anthology 2008” (by Jim Kacian and the Red Moon Press Editorial Staff, January 2009; see our prior post).  “white lies” contains some of the very best haiku-related poetry published in 2008, and our Honored Guest poets are, as always, well-represented.

checkout line
my dad
could talk to anyone

writers’ conference–
from a toilet stall I hear
someone quoting me

……….. by John Stevenson – white lies: RMA 2008
“checkout line” – Upstate Dim Sum 2008/I
“writers’ conference” – Modern Haiku 39:1

a cushion of pine needles
I recall my past
as pleasant

…. by George Swede – white lies: RMA 2008
orig. pub. Acorn 21

between flights
I summarize my life
for a stranger

…. by Hilary Tann – white lies: RMA 2008
orig. pub. Upstate Dim Sum 2008/II

The following haiku (plus one senryu) were originally published in the Summer 1996 issue of Modern Haiku.  Except for the first one by Jim Kacian, this is the first appearance of each poem at f/k/a . . . . .

first autumn wind
not feeling the knife
slice my finger

..…. by Jim Kacian – Modern Haiku XXVII:2

underfoot–
snow that was part
of the wind

the work gloves off–
wind slips by
my fingers

rain softens
the paper bag–
softer air

she lifts her hands–
water splashes back
on water

window light in the mirror–
a gray hair
among the gray hairs

…. by Gary Hotham- Modern Haiku XXVII:2

fierce 
baby
ferret
conquers
October
leaves

my
ferret
Oscar
you
wild
jumpy
teen

his
dead
eyes
still
open
my
curious
ferret

… by David Lanoue – Modern Haiku XXVII:2
[follow the adventures of David's ferret in his novel Haiku Wars; see our post]

Barber’s ‘Adagio for Strings’
drove right past
the rest area

spring . . .
‘HAIKU 1′ parked
down by the pond

…. by Lee Gurga – Modern Haiku XXVII:2

barefoot
in Mohawk’s shallows
–prawn on my toes

insomnia–
the train tracks are silent
all night  long

…. by Yu Chang – Modern Haiku XXVII:2

bifocals
and magnifying glass
a coin with his birthdate

old slippers
the comfort
coming apart

calling in sick
her own cheerful-sounding
recorded voice

… by John Stevenson – Modern Haiku XXVII:2

… ….

. . . Nonetheless, as I told Enrico in an email last week, it takes far too much energy and creates much too much stress and agita, to respond point-by-point to a flood of distortions.  Enrico offered to let me do a podcast interview in reply, but it is a poor medium in which to make less-than-simplistic arguments.  Instead, I decided to write a more general “apologia” that explains my basic position and tries to clarify where I’m coming from as an advocate for the consumer of legal services and reformer of the legal profession.

As I wrote to Enrico: “My fight — and it should be yours, too — is with the people who have taken the term ‘value billing’ and sold it to lawyers as a way to make premium fees higher than could be made doing the same work under the same conditions with hourly billing.”  To see what I have actually said about Value Pricing and Value Billing, start with my recent “value pricing by lawyers raises many ethical red flags” and follow the links.

Below the fold [click more], you will find the comment I tried to leave this afternoon at the GAL post.  For some reason, a message that the webserver “cannot accept the data” came up, but I’m fairly sure that Enrico will make it available there soon.

Responding to GAL’s mischaracterizations has reminded me to post a few more poems from the newest addition to the Red Moon Press best-haiku anthology series, white lies: Red Moon Anthology 2008 — which we introduced here.

cold morning
the saw’s song changes
in the heartwood

persimmon still hanging the extra day of the year

heat lightning and the dry burn of whiskey

……… by Jim Kacian – white lies: RMA 2008
“cold morning” – Haiku Poets of North California 2007 Contest
“persimmon” – Betty Drevniok Haiku Contest 2008 (Haiku Canada)
“heat lightning” – Frogpond XXXI:1

scattering cabbage whites
years later
I still think of her

…. by paul m – white lies: RMA 2008
orig. pub. – Modern Haiku 39:2

55th spring
the cardiologist inserts
a new balloon

… by ed markowski – white lies: RMA 2008
orig. pub.- Shiki Kukai (March 2008)

hard rain
a river rediscovers
the old ways

…. by Matt Morden – white lies: RMA 2008
orig. pub. – Presence 35

. . . Here’s the Comment that I tried to leave today at the GAL post: 

Enrico, I do not have the time, patience or energy to respond point by point to your army of Strawmen.  It is disappointing that you have chosen to distort every single point that I make in order to make your points.

E.g., I do not oppose money-back guarantees, but instead say that they do not by themselves remove the ethical question of whether the fee is reasonable.  And, I do not say a client who requires urgent attention should never be charged more; I say that a fiduciary should not go beyond taking the urgency into account by adding a premium merely because the client seems particularly upset or angry or rich, and is therefore less price-sensitive.

Thank you for at  least linking to my writings, so fair-mined readers can judge for themselves.

Painting me as defender of the status quo is so funny it hurts.  For almost six years, my weblog has been virtually the only blawg willing to state over and over that lawyer fees are too high, and that greed has overwhelmed the service ethic in our profession. I have condemned the incentives created by high hourly-billing quotas and listed factors that are required for hourly billing to be done in an ethical manner, and have opposed the unfair use of standard contingency fees in low-risk cases, while praising the use of alternative billing methods that give consumers more choice and value.

Since 1977, I have been fighting to bring more consumer choice, price competition and innovation to the legal profession, and to help consumers tackle more of their legal problems without the use of lawyers. [By the way, despite my credentials, I was charging very low hourly rates and using flat fees before you graduated from law school in 1990.]  Of course, my main emphasis has always been on “Joe and Jane Cliente,” who are not sophisticated purchasers of legal services, are rarely in the market for such services, and need to be armed with more information.

My fight — and it should be yours, too — is with the people who have taken the term “value billing” and sold it to lawyers as a way to make premium fees higher than could be made doing the same work under the same conditions with hourly billing.   As you well know, every single point that I have raised about questionable value pricing goals and tactics is linked to specific quotes from some of the most high-profile proponents of value billing or “value pricing.”  Making believe there are no problems, or that I am somehow delusional or fighting for the status quo, does a disservice to the notion of using alternative billing to give clients better value.

Here are two excerpts from a 2005 posting at f/k/a that help demonstrate just how poorly you have depicted my point of view [ http://tinyurl.com/fkaChronomentrophobia ]:

* In setting fees, the lawyer-fiduciary must act in a manner that puts the client’s interest first. Making sure the client is fully informed when entering into the fee arrangement is essential, taking into account the sophistication level and experience of the particular client. Of course, alternatives to the hourly fee can be ethical and beneficial to lawyer and client, and should be encouraged — because they are a spur to creating the efficiency, innovation, and competition that lead to better client service and lower fees, not in order to lull the client into paying higher fees.

[And, with not a little irony:]

* I like The Greatest American Lawyer’s approach to finding alternatives to the Billable Hour — and to using hourly billing in a more client-friendly and fair manner. Unlike those who pan the billable hour and then substitute higher overall fees through so-called “value pricing,” the anonymous GAL looks for ways to give the client better value for the fees charged, and to fit the fee to the difficulty of the task and how well it is accomplished. See his take on Tasked-Based Billing, his new advertising campaign, and this Missouri Bar article.

f/k/a p.s. I plan to make this my last discussion of value billing/pricing for the time being.  Let’s call it “doctor’s orders.”  Mama G. agrees.

..  .. Moving Day for Kaz: Looking a lot less jaunty than he did for his plea hearing last December (see our prior post for details), former Schenectady police chief Greg Kaczmarek was sentenced yesterday to two years in State prison for drug possession.  See “Former Schenectady police chief heads to prison” (Schenectady Gazette, Feb. 3, 2009); “Two years for ex-chief” (Albany Times Union, Feb. 3, 2009).  At the sentencing, both prosecutor Michael Sharpe, of the state Attorney General’s Office, and Judge Karen Drago felt they needed to respond to complaints in the community and from Kaz’s co-conspirators that he got off easy, and that Kaz only pled to keep his wife out of prison (she got 6 months in the County jail).

According to the Gazette, prosecutor Sharpe told the court that Greg Kaczmarek had the opportunity to spare his wife at least some jail time last summer, but he chose not to.  Sharpe also make it clear that there was plenty of evidence that Kaz bought drugs, using some and selling some to others. The Gazette also states that:

“Both Sharpe and Drago attempted in court to respond to rampant criticism of the Kaczmareks’ sentences. The Kaczmareks were among two dozen indicted as players in the drug organization headed by Kirkem and Oscar Mora. . . .

” . . . The attorney for one of the accused organization managers last week even filed a formal motion comparing his client’s involvement with Lisa Kaczmarek’s. Brian Toal, attorney for co-defendant Hazel Nader, argued that the Kaczmareks got unfairly lighter sentences, calling them ‘embarrassing’.”

The prosecutor and the judge agreed that the Kaczmareks were at the lower levels of the organization.  Sharpe noted that Kaz had used his law enforcement knowledge (gained from 27 years in law enforcement, six of those as Schenectady’s police chief) to advise the ringleader on avoiding the police.  The Gazette reports that Sharpe told the court:

“[T]hat allegation, and Greg Kaczmarek’s law enforcement background, warranted his two years in prison, over his wife’s six months. Greg Kaczmarek spent

However, Judge Drago disagreed about the significance of Kaz’s police background.

“While it is enormously disappointing that an individual who held a position of such esteem stands before the court convicted of a drug offense, the position as former chief of police in and of itself does not warrant a harsher sentence,” Drago said.

[Note: Your Editor leans toward giving harsher sentences to people who violate laws they used to enforce.]

Drago also said that the case is an example of how “drug addiction crosses all walks of life and how anyone can succumb to this.”

According to the Times Union,  Lisa Kaczmarek’s lawyer, Kevin Luibrand, called her behavior “aberrational.”  We’re pretty sure a fancy New York City criminal lawyer like Scott Greenfield would have used an actual word, perhaps “aberant.”

..  Sex Offender Law Web-cast:  If you hurry, you can still catch a live webcast that begins today, Feb. 3, at 10:45 AM EST, and is sponsored by the Editorial board of the Lower Hudson Journal.  It features Sarah Tofte, author of the 146-page Human Rights Watch Report “No Easy Answers: Sex offender Laws in the United Sates” (September 2007).  The forum (which will also be available for viewing after the event) should be an excellent follow-up to yesterday’s LoHud.com op/ed piece, “How far can  – or should – communities go to restrict sex offenders?” (LOHud.com, by Nancy Cutler, Feb. 2, 2009).  It asks:

What should communities do to protect children from convicted sex offenders? What strategies work and which ones don’t?

If you missed it, you could prepare for the Webcast (or otherwise bone-up on issues relevant to restricting where sex offenders can live) by reading yesterday’s f/k/a post “don’t let a bad idea go statewide” (Feb. 2, 2009).

.. .. The Turk’s Crystal Ball:  Eric Turkewitz wrote yesterday about “The Future of the Legal Blogosphere” (Feb. 2, 2009) at his New York Personal Injury Law weblog.  Eric says: “Having now trashed Twitter (Twitter and The Age of Information Overload) before using it and semi-trashed it again after using it (Twitter: A Review), and having concluded it is not the future, the question remains: What is the future of the legal blogosphere?”  Turk argues that the future will look like a combination of Listservs, a group weblog for and by lawyers and a social networking site.  More specifically:

1. “First, what is missing from the legal blogosphere is a group blog for practicing lawyers. While Volokh or Co-Op are possible as templates for group blogs, I see something more akin to the splashier Huffington Post, except that it would be written by and for lawyers.”
2. “Now mix in the social element, whether this is for swapping tips and links or engaging in political discussion away from one’s own practice area. It happens to some extent in comment areas, but this is limited. It also is happening in Twitter, but the format is anything but ideal. . . . .  A well-located and well-designed legal forum can be significantly superior to it.”

As an example of a model, Eric goes on to point to “Well designed discussion boards such as those operated by The Motley Fool financial site,” which could also incorporate profiles for those interested in social networking.  He then that such a site would “also have a reader base with some of the best advertising demographics in the nation. Advertising (cars, booze, travel, etc) would be an easy sell relative to other sites, as would law firm sponsorships.”  And,

“Thus, a savvy entrepreneur will one day blend the desires for blogging and the desires for a legal-social element into one web location, in an easy-to-use site.”

Eric is right.  Such a project needs to have content with substance and style, and it needs to offer value that exceeds the time spent perusing and using the site.  Turk predicts it will happen and brags that “you heard it first” at his weblog.  He forgot to say that Prof. Yabut and the entire f/k/a Gang would love to come out of retirement to put such a project together (and maybe show the Twittrepreneurs that we’re much more like phoenixes and eagles than pterodactyls ’round here).

.. White Lies? Well, only a little and temporary one.  As the day progresses, I’ll be adding poems by the f/k/a family of haiku poets from white lies: the Red Moon Anthology of English Language Haiku 2008 (see our prior post).   “white lies” contains some of the very best haiku-related poetry published in 2008. E.g., this trio from Tom Painting:

fall planting
the way my father
set them straight

peace vigil
one candle
lights them all

year’s end
the weight of the pennies
in the mason jar

…. by Tom Painting – white lies: Red Moon Anthology 2008
“fall planting” – Bottle Rockets 18
“peace vigil” – A Bomb Contest 2008
“year’s end” – Modern Haiku 39:2

spring at last 
letting the stallion out
into the pasture

razor wire
soldiers in the alley
tossing dice

… by Randy M. Brooks – white lies: Red Moon Anthology 2008
“spring at last” - acorn 20; “razor wire” – dandelion clocks (HSA 2008)

storm forecast__
the living room
in order

….. by Tom Clausen – white lies: RMA 2008
orig. pub. Wisteria 8

cherry blossom rain . . .
I take the convertible
back to the showroom

all the answers
in the back of the book–
summer solstice

a new light
on the dashboard
evening rain

…… by Alice Frampton – white lies: RMA 2008
“cherry blossom rain . . . ” – Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival
“all the answers” – The Heron’s Nest X:3
“a new light” -  The Heron’s Nest X:2

behind our backs –
the sounds the ocean
covers up

…………………… by Gary Hotham -
orig. pub. The Heron’s Nest X:3