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Side Bar: What a year
I don’t even know where to start. This year was just beyond and I know I’m not sharing any huge revelation here because we’ve all been through it, but I do want to take a moment to just acknowledge what occurred. At the beginning of 2020, I was six months into my new job in local govt and to put it plainly—I was ex-haust-ed! The pace of the work was a huge jolt to my system. And while I felt like I finally was getting it, I was still barely home and barely sleeping. Additionally, there were constant threats that ICE could descend at a moment’s notice—remember when they threatened…
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What’s Next? Life After the Election
Wow. All weekend I was at a loss for words because of how HAPPY I felt about the election. Not going to lie, some days before election day, I was going to sleep super worried about what another term would mean and how devastating it would be in so many ways and how the Right has decimated the justice system even further and well… I can’t put into words how relieved and happy I am! What an incredible moment for grassroots organizing and people power. One thing I also wanted to say is how grateful we should be to organizers and communities who are often the most harmed who still…
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To Be or Not to Be: The Problem With Gender Roles & Sexism in the Courtroom
I just finished reading two articles that I recommend people read about women litigators and issues they face at work. One is from The Atlantic and the other is a response in the ABA Journal. Each article tackles how women, who make up a dismal percentage of lead counsel/first chairs in trials, can push back against sexism in the courtroom to win for their client. The article in The Atlantic, written by Lara Bazelon–a former Federal Public Defender and Clinical Professor, suggests that women face such systemic sexism in every area of the courtroom that it behooves us to abide by gender roles so that we’re not seen as too…
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What Beyonce Teaches Us About Power
Have you heard the Good News? Beyonce is on the cover of Vogue, September Edition. Not only that, she discusses so much of her private life that makes me love her even more. Not only that, but she had complete control and decided to use that control to hire a relatively unknown young, Black photographer to shoot the cover. The first black photographer in the magazine’s entire history (embarrassing). Beyonce said: If people in powerful positions continue to hire and cast only people who look like them, sound like them, come from the same neighborhoods they grew up in, they will never have a greater understanding of experiences different from…
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Sidebar: Wtf is Happening
I can’t believe June is over. It flew by–I think it helps that I’ve been super busy at work. I have one month of supervision under my belt and now that we’re “fully” staffed I finally feel like I’m not drowning. Being a supervisor hasn’t had a lot of changes–some extra meetings, and more consultations than ever before but not much else has changed. I did realize that how I approached being an attorney has to be different than how I manage. Most attorney jobs are very solo-work dependent. I’m used to doing my work and calling it a day, but I’m really aware now that I have a other…
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Summer Series: Steadfastness Under Pressure
Our Summer Series continues! This series highlights different Latina students and law grads as they embark in their summer jobs and/or bar prep all across the country. We hope to provide a variety of work experiences, options for a healthy work-life balance, and general motivation through different guest contributors to help you to take charge of your summer and professional goals! Today we also hear from Nicole, a rising 3L who is working with migrant communities in Ohio–she reminds us of how rewarding this hard, hard work can be. Hi everyone! My name is Nicole and I am a rising 3L at the University of Nebraska College of Law. Currently, I am a…
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How Can You Study In Times Like These?
Everything can feel so overwhelming right now with what’s happening in the news. It can feel like a useless endeavor to study for the bar when so much chaos is happening at that border and in our communities. Even still, it’s so vital for you to keep going, to focus on the bar (or whatever goal you have this summer). Use what’s happening as motivation to get to your next chapter. But I really want to volunteer! I remember the travel ban last year and how people swarmed the airport. So many students participated in that as well. So, yes, you can certainly volunteer in whatever capacity you can. But…
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Sidebar: Is the World Ending? asking for a friend.
Wow. What a weird month. I have family in Tampa and prayed to Cristo Negro that they’d be safe. Thankfully they made it through, but then the horror in Mexico City, then more hurricanes–it’s too much. On top of all the political garbage… I avoid a lot of news and politics now because I know I can’t consume this horror in such a big scale. It’s too much. But I’m doing what little I can to help with DACA and the hurricanes aftermath. Ok, thankfully, not everything was horrible. Though, now that I think about it, it is kind of comical–E and I tried to celebrate the end of summer…
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Open Letter to “Mediocre” Latinx Students: Go Where You’re Not Wanted
Yesterday, I saw the article on WaPo about the University of Maryland professor who accidentally sent an email to his mock trial class that included a coach’s (the prof’s daughter) remarks on the students who had tried out and her concern about whether or not to include the Latino students for the sake of diversity even though she thought they all performed poorly and that the best one was “mediocre.” I read that article and it was gut-wrenching. So often students of color have a sense that some professors, admins, or people in power within academia don’t support us because they have a preconception of our “inferior” capabilities, but rarely…
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Sidebar: love and hate
August is over. That means summer is over fr fr. But I guess Summer 17 ended with a bang? I mean, how do we get over what happened in Virginia? Wait, let me back up so this month my cousin returned to Florida to start her fall semester and I miss her so much!! 🙁 She left the weekend of E’s birthday, so we did some mini farewell/bday meals before she left. Of course, the day after E’s bday we woke up to the protest in Virginia and it really shook me. Not because I don’t think the country is racist (it is) but because how impossible…