Return to School, the horror, the horror

Today is the last day of Spring Break. The last day of break is always worse than the first day of work: there is the dread, the lethargy, and the knowledge that if you don't do the multitude of little tasks you were supposed to complete days ago you are right and royally screwed.
So, what is needed is some pep and vigor! I have probably already cornered you and made you watch this clip of Hugh Laurie singing "Hey Jude" (and no one else seems to find it as cheering as I do) but I am including it here as you too may need something going into Monday. Remember, Jude, don't make it bad. Take a sad song and make it better. Here is Hugh Laurie doing just that!


On the topic of horror....

My roommates and I continued our movie watching tradition last night with Hitchcock's "Vertigo." Great movie. Afterwards I turned again to wikipedia and SparkNotes for post-film analysis etc. One thing led to another and the next thing you know I am watching Psycho on my computer. This was a BAD IDEA. (And if you don't know the premise of Psycho continuing to read here is another bad idea) That is the danger with Hitchcock: there are so many elegant dresses and pretty words that you can forget that it is pretty dashed scary and you end up watching Psycho late at night thinking there can be no harm to your psyche (or your hygiene - not to keen on idea of a shower right now). And there was no harm until the very last scene: Norman Bates, draped in a blanket sitting in his cell speaking in his head as his mother:

"I hope they are watching. They'll see. They'll see and they'll know. And they'll say (eyes finally raising to the camera) why she wouldn't even hurt a fly."

And then Hitchcock does his fancy lighting/shading and the vague image of a skull is transposed over Norman's mad face - and cutting away to grille of the car as it is wenched out of the mud. Ugh (shivers).

Okay, I hope that left you with happy thoughts! Just watch "Hey Jude" again and repeat as needed!

RICO and a Return to American Values

Yesterday I went out to lunch with two of my good friends from law school: Mya and Thalia. We talked of many things (ships and sails and sealing wax! Of carpenters and kings!) politics, sex, sex with politicians…so it inevitably cycled around to the never cooling topic of the last week: the Spitzer sex scandal. There’s not much to say here that hasn’t already been covered ad nauseum, but am just going to throw in my two cents regardless.

The case particularly interests me as I have been working closely in my policy clinic analyzing RICO (Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act) – the same prosecutorial tool Spitzer used in bringing down the big bosses of “Little Italy” and later of Wall Street. Briefly, RICO was passed in 1970 amidst growing concern of organized crime syndicate’s economic and political influence, and by broadly identifying illegal activity (here investment in any pattern of ‘racketeering’) provided a mechanism to hold not only the executors but the executives of organized crime accountable. There is much that can be said against RICO (bad law, circumvention of due process protections, that it creates an association based crime…), but no one can contest that it has been effective. It’s success has largely been owing to the ingenuity of individuals such as Mr. Spitzer (for example: Mr. Spitzer launched the successful 1992 investigation of the Gambino family’s mafia stranglehold on the trucking and garment industry in Manhattan).

So, my question is….

WTF? Really, WTF?! This man built his career around RICO and it's premise that it applies to everyone – including those previously ‘untouchables.’ That is the beauty/nightmare that is RICO. How could he fail to recognize this? He utilized this very tool. Hoisted on his own petard…
Sigh. Every day there is something that discourages me that little bit more about the human race. Sad thing here is that it is not the morality that surprises and upsets me – just the stupidity. Affairs are old news; politicians and their use of prostitutes is no big shocker; what disappoints me is how stupid he was about it!
What is one to think?

These were the questions we mulled over – and didn’t come up with any real answers until inspiration struck…
Many (law students in particular) have looked for wisdom at the bottom of the glass. Difference is, in this instance, I actually found it. There, printed on my coaster, were words of wisdom I longed to share with this “Big Boss”: “Big Boss Brewing Company: ‘Handle Your Business.’” The lessons you can pull from the beer tap! I held up the coaster to my friends and started on my rant:

“Here it is, his would-be fortune cookie: “Handle Your Business.” None of this would have happened if he had just followed this advice: take care of business…yourself. Whatever happed to American values, namely self-reliance? That can do spirit tempered with the, yes, but I won’t do and will do for myself.”

This country was built on a number of things: Puritanism, Enlightenment ideals, the belief that “all men are created equal” (“and are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” sorry, it’s automatic)……..slavery, but self-reliance is implicit in all of those (except the latter, obviously, and doesn’t that rather support the point of the importance of this virtue?). So, my fellow Americans, I ask you, let us return to our most essential of “American” virtues: independence and self-reliance. Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for yourself; because that is what made America great and got Onan a chapter in the Bible.

In closing, I would ask (just as every pundit and publican trots them out for their position de jour; I am no different!) what would the founding fathers say? I did a quick wikiquote search to see if these three such founding brothers had any thoughts on the subject. Then, recognizing that the more things change the more they stay the same and that they are all men and worse, politicians, I included a probable translation into their personal lives.


George Washington :
“Associate yourself with men of good quality…for ‘tis better to be alone than in bad company.” – Rules of Civility

(What he most likely would have said had there been tabloids in 1776: I cannot tell a lie: I did fell her with my little hatchet.)


T. Jefferson:
“Never trouble another for what you can do for yourself.”
and
“An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his fellow citizens.”

(And somewhat compromising his enlightened prose above, we have the Thomas Jefferson theme song courtesy of Eric Clapton: Lay down, Sally.)


Benjamin Franklin:
“Rarely use Venery but for Health or Offspring; Never to Dulness, Weakness, or the Injury of your own or another’s Peace or Reputation.”
-Franklin’s Autobiography

(But you do have to love the old goat, he was no hypocrite: “Old boys have their playthings as well as young ones; the difference in only in the price.”)

Play on, old man, play on. Just don't text for your playthings.

Growing Up - An Awfully Big Adventure

When I was little (and then later when I was not so little) I promised myself that I wouldn’t grow up. It wasn’t going to happen. Yes, I know, a foolish, futile promise, but one that I have stubbornly adhered to over the last decade and a half. Now, twenty-five, about to graduate law school and launch a career of my very own (health insurance, car payments, and working 8-5, oh my!), while I am still not entirely sure that I approve of the process I do (reluctantly) recognize its inevitability. This blog is an exercise in growing up gracefully, albeit belatedly. So this is me, putting on my big girl boots and getting ready to tromp out and make my place; to do that I am going to need to lean on a few old friends and old dreams!
Love, Anna
"I'm not young enough to know everything." - J.M. Barrie

Here's looking at you, kid

I sat down with very good and very strong intentions: I would update my blog. Hurrah! But then the TV in front of me was so blank turned off - it was unnatural. It couldn't hurt to turn it on - a little background noise is soothing. Then there was the channel surfing - and lo, Casablanca is featured on TCM. I can't miss that, and neither should you. The following are a few of my favorite quotes.

"I remember Paris perfectly. The Germans wore grey, you wore blue."
- Rick Blaine, Casablanca

Rick: I congratulate you.
Victor: What for?
Rick: Your work.
Victor: I try.
Rick: We all try. You succeed.

"Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world she had to walk into mine."
- Rick

"Welcome back to the fight."
- Lazlo, Casablanca

"Major Strasser has been shot. Round up the usual suspects."
- Capt. Renault, Casablanca

"Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
- Rick, Casablanca

White Day

Dear All,
First of all, happy (belated) Valentines day! I should get around to posting those Valentine’s cards sometime around Easter (I rather shamefully admit that I only got around to actually posting some Christmas ‘thank you’s as late as last week. It is a long process from the writing (late December), sealing and addressing (early January), and stamping (early February) to the physical post box delivery (February 13th, 4:58pm) I am pathetic – I know this).
So the cards – if ever posted – will be typically late. But tardiness can be a virtue, no? Think of it as extending the Valentine’s Day celebrations (only the nice bits though - ie: candy and cards made of doilies – not the depressing parts marked by the absence thereof). And actually, I would be right on the proper time frame if we all lived in Japan!

Which brings me to the topic of White Day. (And I apologize if I have already cornered you and lectured on this topic) I learned about White Day while researching the history of Valentines Day during class (hurrah for Wikipedia – without which I might know more about Contracts and Torts but would be entirely clueless about the origin of the “It” Girl). But to return to White Day - In Japan women usually give men chocolate and gifts on Valentine’s Day. A whole other holiday (White Day) developed a month later (March 14th) in which men return the favor with white gifts (marshmallows, white chocolate and the ever-popular lingerie). I’m all for holidays (even such artificial holidays as Valentines Day) and all for chocolate and candies (even such artificial chocolate-creations like white chocolate) so I think that the Japanese and Koreans have a good idea here. The crazy thing is that this billion dollar holiday was promulgated by the…wait for it…MARSHMALLOW industry. Isn’t that crazy? I mean, who ever would expect the marshmallow-makers of the world to wield such influence? They are so…fluffy.
But, perhaps this girl-scout s’more friendly industry with its soft, powdery products is only a façade for a true holiday hegemony. Sort of in the same way the fashion industry is allegedly the puppet master behind all the great world conflicts.(See Zoolander). On reflection, marshmallows do seem to have quite the monopoly over holidays. With the exception of holiday colored M&Ms I can’t think of any other confection that has carved such an essential niche in such a breadth of holiday celebrations. What would Easter be without peeps? And Thanksgiving and family harmony (sometimes fraying at the edges during times of family togetherness) might just unravel without Mom’s sweet potatoes (which, as you know depends on those little marshmallows). What would winter be without marshmallows in the hot chocolate and autumn camp-fires without s’mores? I am sure that there more – the truth is out there. So, the question remains – Marshmallows: tyrant of modern holiday world or benign victim of childish microwave experimentation?