whew!

I see now that it might be a couple of days before I can really get back into blogging. I started a new job on Monday so I’ve been getting acclimated there, as well as getting back into a 9-5 schedule. Do you know that I haven’t had to be at a 9-5/5 days a week job since last summer? Even that was an internship! My law classes didn’t even have that type of schedule. In Tokyo, we admittedly did more partying than studying or spending time in class so that wasn’t too stressful. This past summer, as the steady readers know, I didn’t have to be anywhere really. When doing the consulting/freelance, that was on my time for the most part. So now here I am trying to get back on track which includes getting up early, riding the subway to work, running errands after 5pm, heading home, attempting to make dinner, then studying for my MPA classes. Which reminds me, I haven’t even started this week’s reading AND my group members want everyone to turn in a draft of our project sections this Friday. Suffice to say that I won’t be doing anything for the remainder of the week besides work and school work. Womp.

I did go out to SOBs last night to see Black Sheep and Tanya Morgan rock with Revive da Live, a jammin’ ass hip hop band. It was awesome. TM already bangs but they definitely should try to hook up with the band more often. Hmm, perhaps they should do a reality show like Diddy. Making TMs Band?

Remember my crazy uncle? He had me put him on the phone with Dres from Black Sheep. Embarrassing but I did it anyway because I knew it’d make him happy. He wanted me to get an autograph too, but I have my limits. Besides, I had already gotten a pic with Dres for my Old Rapper Collection. More on that later for those who don’t know. LOL

Holla

Ciara – Work

Ciara’s been busting her ass trying to stay relevant and I appreciate her grind. Apparently her new album, Fantasy Ride, hasn’t done as well as anticipated. I must admit that I was feeling several  joints off of her last effort, Ciara: The Evolution, but I’m sort of uninspired this time around (honorable mention to Love Sex Magic and Never Ever). Still, I love this girl’s style and I want her to win. Check her new vid for Work, featuring Missy Elliot (where she been?).

Bitch, hold my ponytail (c) B.Scott

Some thoughts:

1. I hate to agree with the folks out there but I’m inclined to believe that Ciara has indeed pulled a swagger jacking on Ms. Beyonce. Not to say that one person owns a style or that another cannot be inspired by some hot shit, but the transition was too fast. One minute Ciara was rockin that Aaliyah-type steeze (sexy, innocent, long hair, slim, young, belly-bare, baggy pants, etc). Next she’s all Ciara-Fierce, becoming a superhero with a magic ponytail and rocking bodysuits with no pants! Do you girl, but damn…

2. Oh, the Kids are going to love this one aren’t they? Who loves to “work” more than a gay man on a Friday night? I mean, Ciara even employed a classic kid move at 2:00 in.

3. This bitch makes me wanna stop eating. How many days must I live on Tic-Tacs and H2O to properly work that cyan latex/vinyl number??

4. I want Ciara to do some Spectacular-style shit and challenge some heifers to a dance off. I know she’ll come on top. I can’t think of one R&B/Pop chick who can out-dance her right now. Who wan romp? CHALLENGE!

Another downer about the legal job market…

Swiped from the National Law Journal,  just a perspective on the legal job market for the public-interest (aka, me). A bit long, BTW.

Public-interest sector getting a little crowded

Karen Sloan
June 01, 2009

Sending incoming associates into temporary public-interest jobs — with a healthy stipend to cover their costs of living — is intended to be a fiscally smart and compassionate way for law firms to handle an overabundance of young attorneys in this dismal economy.

But some recent law school graduates who have spent years preparing for public-interest careers worry that law firms are hurting their job prospects by flooding the already competitive public-interest job market. They say they resent the suggestion that deferred law firm associates can step into a public-service role without, in many cases, having worked with indigent clients in law school clinics or completed internships with nonprofit legal organizations.

“Deferred associates are getting congratulated for going to public-interest organizations in the final hour and being so generous, while the people who were planning on working at these organizations throughout law school and have demonstrated a commitment are forgotten again by the legal establishment,” said Jane Fox, 28, who will graduate from Brooklyn Law School in New York City in early June. She is looking for a public defender position or other public-interest work in New York.

For people like Allison Standard, 24, a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law who is searching for a public-interest job, the uncertainty over what the law firm deferral programs mean for hiring is unsettling. “The hard part is that there is no easy solution to this,” Standard said. “You can’t blame the organizations for taking the free labor. But people who intended on public-interest careers have been working throughout law school to build a path to these jobs, and they might get passed over.”

Brett Church, an incoming associate at Boston-based Goodwin Procter who chose to work at a nonprofit organization for a year, said he understands why some young public-interest attorneys may resent the deferred law firm associates. However, he sees potential for deferred associates to make a difference in their communities. “In this market, everybody is just trying to get by and find opportunities,” said Church, 28, who plans to work at a Boston-area organization geared toward helping children or young people before focusing on venture capital at the firm. “The fact that I went to Goodwin Procter doesn’t mean I’m not passionate about doing this type of work.”

Public-interest law students in the class of 2009 faced a harsh employment climate even before classmates on the law firm track came into the mix. Paul Igasaki, the deputy chief executive officer of Equal Justice Works, a group that promotes public-interest law careers, said that public-interest organizations have struggled with funding reductions from interest on lawyers’ trust accounts (IOLTA), lower donations and fewer grants, limiting their ability to hire. The associate deferrals represent another curveball. The programs vary by firm, but many involve paying a stipend to associates who have had their law firm start dates pushed back by a few months to more than a year and who choose to work at a public-interest organization in the meantime.

The stipends generally range from $60,000 to $85,000 for yearlong deferrals — meaning that deferred associates will make significantly more money than many public-interest attorneys. Some firms are even covering health insurance costs. By contrast, the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) reported last year that public-interest attorneys can expect to start with a salary of about $41,000.

Michelle isn’t losing anything

Reposting from Michelle Obama Watch where Gina points out Michelle Obama’s somewhat different, not lesser, role as First Lady.

We have another in a growing list of laments that somehow the fact that Michelle Obama will not be working for someone else and will be free to fill her time with the activities of her choosing is somehow a great tragedy and a setback for women. This time its Rebecca Traister in The National Post in an article called “Not Such a Long Way Baby”

Americans may be ready for a black president, but not, apparently, for a career-minded First Lady averse to the traditional domesticity of her role…In all the worrying about how Sasha and Malia will adjust to having their lives turned upside down, in all the fretting about how Barack Obama will move his Chicagostyle shop to Washington, why is there so little curiosity about how Michelle will adjust to the loss of her own private, very successful, very high-profile and very independent identity? How will Michelle Obama feel as she becomes what she has long resisted — an extension of her husband? The National Post

Can somebody show me a survey of Americans to support this statement about Americans rejecting the idea of “career-minded” women? Didn’t Lynne Chaney keep her job for the past four years and write a couple of books as well? Weren’t there concerns during the campaign about the role Todd Palin played in Alaska government?

Now during the campaign, I was annoyed with the “Michelle Obama Needs a Makeover” meme that the New York Times pushed tirelessly. I didn’t see anything wrong with her that needed to be made over. All of that “First Mom” business got started to combat the “She’s too STRONG” meme. I reject them both. I reject the notion that MOMs are somehow weak and powerless. HA! You haven’t met my Mama.

Second, I reject the notion that accomplished women are inherently “STRONG” ( good or bad). I know plenty of accomplished, “driven” people who are miserable and crazy. I think both sides of this Mom vs Career argumant are equally annoying because they assume that each is mutually exclusive and one is inferior to the other. It assumes that Michelle’s brain will suddenly stop functioning and she will place all of her talents in a box and hide them away for four or eight years.

The Prototype: Clair Huxtable (Revisited)

– Warning: Long Post Ahead –
But it’s the weekend and if you’re reading this, you probably have nothing else to do right now

I’ve made mention on this blog before about my affinity for the character of Clair Huxtable (and Michelle Obama). I even joined a Facebook group with other women who want to be a Clair. It all looks so good, right? Portrayed by the fabulous Phylicia Rashad, Clair Huxtable was beautiful and strong. She was a great mother and commanded in her career (when we got those rare shots of her actually at work). She had the adoration and respect of her children. Her husband was infatuated with her. She knew literature, jazz, dance, history. She was graceful and always appropriate, yet she took NO mess from anyone. Sounds too good to be true, right? Well duh, it was TV. Still, that hasn’t stopped yound people from wanting her to be their mom, women from wanting to be her, or men from wanting to be with her. So what IS it with this chick?
A scholarly take on the “EveryWoman” that was Clair Hanks Huxtable:

Clair may not have been the star of the show, but she definitely prevailed over the family. If the children were often able to pull one over Cliff, it was very rare that they could fool their mother. Her children recognized her authority yet trusted her as they knew she understood them and was open to dialogue. She was a no-nonsense person, but had a sense of humor and was very playful. Clair’s relationship with Cliff also was a double-faceted one. She enjoyed a certain complicity with her husband in their important united front vis-a-vis the children. Yet, in addition, she was constantly waiting for him round the bend as he gullibly got taken in by one of the children’s maneuvers or tried to sneak in some high cholesterol treat into the daily diet she watched over so carefully.

You call this “service”?

So I don’t know if yall know, but this bourgie babe used to wait tables. Yup, I worked at Chili’s Bar & Grill as a waitress and as a bartender. It was one of the worst jobs ever, but I think more people should try it out. You learn a lot about people, service, humility, containing your emotions, being fake as fuck and food. Some positives about the gig was getting cash every night and having flexible hours.

I was damn good at it too. I can still remember a shitload of orders (with modifications) without writing them down. I checked on my guests and looked hot in an apron. But shit, it was tiring. I left every night smelling like fajitas, even if I never carried a fajita that day. People are shitty to you sometimes. Bad tippers come in all ages, races and classes.

That being said, I’d like to think that I’m a model diner. I have a lot of patience for waitstaff wherever I go, because I know how things can get. I, in all of my greatness, have forgotten to put in an order, taken too long to refill a drink or just been in a crap mood when dealing with customers. It happens. On the flipside, I also have a limit as to what I’ll accept. Some shit is just a bad job.