Monday, May 28, 2007

I read this article in the times and can only say that I'm a little bereft.

I once met a guy who worked at IMDB and I asked him why there was no picture of Charles Nelson Reilly on his IMDB page. The guy said that he never thought he would be asked that. Here's the webpage with IMDB's contact so that you can also ask them to put up a picture of Charles Nelson Reilly and that they should add his one man play/movie, The Life of Reilly, to his credits.

Here's where you can add Mr. Reilly to your myspace friends. He should probably be in your top eight.

You can find out more about the guy at www.charlesnesonreilly.com, which is pretty much the coolest website in the world.

Up on the hilltop where the vultures perch,
That's where I'm gonna build my church,
Ain't gonna be no priest, ain't gonna be no boss;
Just Charles Nelson Reilly nailed to a cross.

I hope he's finally getting some relief.

Friday, May 25, 2007

A lot of fancy lawyers look down on my '06 bar number. They look at it and think "I'll steam roll this guy" and then don't do their prep work.

Last week I got to sit in Judges chambers and hand Opposing Counsel my finished paperwork. The Judge got to hear him apologize for not finishing his on time. I got to stare at the wall and not smirk while the Judge lectured him. And I got to thank the Judge while he made a comment about how much he appreciated how hard my client was working and that my client must really love his children.

This happens a lot. Almost every week. I love it, even when the attorney calls and screams at me later. At that point he can't intimidate me, even if he is charging his client 5X the amount I charge, because I know that shouting sound is desperation and fear. I'm gonna beat him and he knows it.

He knows he's going to lose to an '06, a lawyer with 4 months experience, a lawyer that he told his client he would mop the floor with, and it's only been the first hearing.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Alberto Gonzales.
He creates a complicated problem for me. It has a lot to do with race. As the news reports more misstatements, inaccurate statements, potential lies, probable lies, and outright lies I feel more and more embarrassed.
The less competent he looks the worse I feel it reflects on me. He’s currently the highest ranking Latino in the U.S. government. The fact that he’s a Latino has fortunately not been mentioned in the press except in the context that everyone has been great about not mentioning race when they talk about how incompetent he is.
This is one of the weird ways racism works. I’m both relieved and troubled that race has not been mentioned. Hopefully it’s not mentioned because it’s not a relevant to the fact that he can’t do his job. But I worry that it’s not mentioned because it’s what all the white people are thinking about him.
I know that’s a piece of stereotyping, but b/c I don’t know what big chunks of the white population are thinking, I worry that it might be the worst.

Now, as a Latino, on top of worrying about how the white people are thinking about Alberto Gonzales, I worry how much they associate him with me. I’m one of the few Latino lawyers in Oregon. I’m bound to be associated with him. I didn’t go to Harvard and don’t have a fancy job but it still concerns me.

This is the interesting way that racism currently works. I have a fear that is probably semi rational, but I have no way of verifying how rational it is and I’m suspicious that I’m being judged by his actions.

There’s an old joke, “What do you call a Mexican in a suit?”
“The defendant.”

Most attorneys of color I’ve talked to have mentioned at least one experience in court where they were mistaken for the defendant. As Alberto becomes more and more like a defendant I feel like he’s undercut the advances everyone of color have achieved.

He’s someone I’m in no way associated with except for some skin color, and he embarrasses me.

White people aren’t embarrassed about being associated with Bush.