f/k/a archives . . . real opinions & real haiku

  one-breath pundit  

Fed84 subtlely reminds us that People who do not do pro bono are losers,

linking to Doing Well by Doing Good (Legal Times, by Kristen C. Limarzi)

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  It took me far too long to start doing pro bono work, but it soon taught me that I got far more satisfaction from working on the problems of average folk than on “important” regulatory matters.  A good reason to seek out opportunities outside your current specialty.
  
  
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  The President of UMass Dartmouth is contemplating a merger with the Southern New England School of Law, saying that the recent Bar Advocate crisis “raises the importance of public service law” and shows “a need for public-service-oriented attorneys”  in the State.  SouthCoastToday.

If you’re wondering whether that prominent tattoo will be helpful for your career, check out advice and tales of regret at George’s Employment Blawg.

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  For a great suspense novel where tattoos make it hard for the protagonist  to go straight, see Norman Green’s Way Past Legal.
  
  
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  My approach to discouraging tattoos: “Well, youngin’, how many of your fads from two years ago are you willing to show off to the world this year? How about in ten years?  Forever?”

   Personal Note:  By Sunday night, the third of my sister’s three children will be married — with all three weddings in 2004.  Click here for my tribute to three kids who have always brightened the life of their Uncle David. 

Today, we are pleased to add haiku poet and editor Billie Wilson to our roster of
Honored Guests. A semi-retired paralegal (who claims to love lawyers), Billie’s haiku are
filled with the scenes and sense(s) of Alaska, her adopted home. You can learn more about
Billie and see examples of her work at her WorldHaiku webpage, and at the Alaska Haiku Society
website, which she has created with Cindy Zackowitz.

Billie was featured in New Resonance 3: Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku (Edited
by Jim Kacian and Dee Evetts, Red Moon Press, 2003)

She says, “I’ve been writing haiku-shaped poems since the late 1960s and learned only a few years
ago that I had almost as much to unlearn as to learn about real haiku.” I think you’ll see that Billie
is a quick learner. We’re grateful that Billie Wilson is now gracing this website.

mud-spattered pickup-
four dogs watch
the tavern door

fruitstand apples-
the rich smell of horses
on my hands

by Billie Wilson
credits: “mud-spattered pickup”: “The Heron’s Nest” (February 2001)
“fruitstand apples”: HSA Northwest Region Members’ Anthology, 2000