PT-LawMom

I’ve always been a bit of a weepy girl, crying if reprimanded by an authority figure (working on it!) and at chick flicks, but it is only since Pumpkinhead’s birth that I’ve become one of those women that cry at the mere suggestion of something bad happening to a child. That explains why Chapin started laughing when he came into our room Friday night and saw me sobbing my eyes out mere pages into this book.

Unfortunately, while it might have been appropriate to laugh at me for crying at something more fluffy, Sonia Nazario’s book, Enrique’s Journey, is worthy of every tear and then some. Nazario spent years researching to profile the journey of one young man who undertook the very dangerous journey from Honduras through Mexico to reach the United States. The horrors he witnessed and experienced are breathtaking, but what touched me the most was his sense that his mother had abandoned him… for what? He didn’t understand and she thought he should have been grateful for her sacrifice. That story is the most touching and thought provoking part of the whole book.

If you haven’t read the book or the LA Times pieces that preceded it, I would suggest you run out and pick up a copy. I think it is a very measured piece that would speak to people on all sides of the immigration debate. Nazario really reports the good, bad and ugly of the whole experience and I don’t think you come out of it with any answers. Never before have I quite understood what my sociology teachers were talking about when they discussed the Mexican border issues with Central Americans. Never before have I understood why my Central American family members have such a distrust (bordering on hatred) of Mexicans, although now I can clearly see both sides’ points of view. What shocked me the most was that someone I know who crossed the U.S. border in this way had mentioned “riding on trains” but I ignorantly thought that person was talking about hiding out in a boxcar or something similarly romantic. This tale of highly dangerous train-top journeys full of decapitations, mutilations, etc., put the tale into a whole new context.

The tears have dried now and in their place is a renewed commitment to find some way to serve these children and families when I get out of law school. I’m adding this to my bookshelf of Latino immigrant tales (yes, I have a whole bookshelf full — see top shelf picture below) and am certain it will, like the others, become dog-eared, highlighted and flagged as the years go by.

How to Help

Church in Northern Mexico that runs an immigrant shelter:
Parroquia de San Jose
Attn: Father Leonardo Lopez Guajardo
Apartado 26
Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas
Codigo Postal 88000
MEXICO
Phone: 011-52-867-712-8145.

Shelter in Southern Mexico that helps immigrants hurt by the train:
Albergue Jesús el Buen Pastor del pobre y el Migrante
Attn: Olga Sanchez Martinez
Calle Rio de la Plata
Manzana 8
Casa 8
Infonavit Las Vegas
Tapachula, Chiapas
CP 30790
MEXICO

Phone: 011-52-962-626-9698

The Weekly MILS (Moms In Law School) Roundup** is the brainchild of Saramel. It is hosted on a rotating basis at the Reasonable Expectations, PT-LawMom, and A Little Fish in Law School blogs and is usually posted no later than Monday morning. Next week’s MILS Roundup will be hosted by Butterflyfish.

This is my first time doing the Roundup. I’m going to break the mold this week to kick things off and post two lists: 1) this week’s great MILS posts and 2) some of my favorite older posts from MILS blogs.

THIS WEEK:
To kick it off, the child of a law school mom who is now starting law school herself recently posted great advice for other children of law school moms (from when she was 10) — A Little Bit Quirky

Brains are great, but what about those basic life skills? — Peanut Butter Burrito
Appreciating the talents of legal secretaries — Lag Liv
Enjoying the last pre-law-school days — Mommy on the Floor
Bar prep hell — Parens Binubus
Combining kids and bar prep — Legally Certifiable
Sharing the cuteness — Reasonable Expectations; A Little Fish in Law School
Lawyer or something a bit more fun? — From Engineer to Lawyer
Priorities — Diary of a Law School Mom
Coping with life’s unexpected twists — Adventures of Law School Mama

GREAT MILS POSTS FROM THE PAST:
Why it’s worth all the sacrifice — From Engineer to Lawyer
A little summer-before-law-school anxiety — Reasonable Expectations
Tips for balancing it all — Parens Binubus
Mommy wars and the choices we make — Frequent Citations
Similarities between labor and law school — Mommy on the Floor
Pumping as a summer associate — Magic Cookie
Sometimes balancing is too hard, especially on your birthday — Legally Certifiable
Handling pregnancy during law school — Lag Liv; Knocked Up (and in Law School)
Semi-Charmed Kinda Life — Diary of a Law School Mom
Trying to fit it all in — Adventures of Law School Mama

If you’d like to have your blog added to the MILS blogroll for weekly review or would like us to consider a specific post, drop the hostess(es) an email or leave a comment at their respective sites.

**Hat tip to the “original” Roundup — Evan Schaeffer’s Legal Underground and Divine Angst

Reading about this firm, I wish I lived in California or Ohio! Not sure if the reality is as nice, but it sure sounds good!

The House of Representatives has passed a bill to overhaul student loans which includes halving interest rates. Yay! Hope it gets all the way through and becomes law! Now can they just get universities (and law schools!!) to stop charging so much that people can’t afford to take public interest positions? Especially in light of articles like this one.

The week is definitely on an upward swing. Tuesday was good; Wednesday was much better! I got several happy, unexpected surprises, not the least of which is that my most difficult associate (the one for whom not even the most obliging word processor will do any work) is leaving the firm. She’ll be happier at her new firm in another city and, believe me, so will I!!! I’m also pleased that one of my classes has finally turned to material I’m very familiar with from my job so I’m feeling quite at ease.

Well yesterday didn’t improve. USCIS basically said that the system shows Chapin as passing his test but there is nothing in the system about approval NOR is there anything about next steps. So bottom line, according to the immigration officer, is “we’re overwhelmed and backlogged. Wait your turn.” He’s going to talk to the guy that gave Chapin his test and told him he was “approved” and see if they can get to the bottom of it. We’ll wait 4-6 weeks and then Chapin will head back again. Sucks!

My newly repaired MacBook is missing its Airport card. How is that? Argh! I’m waiting for my mother to wake up and then I’m going to see if she can head over to the “Genius” Bar to drop it off for the third time. Not loving my Mac today.

Other than that, I am going to have a good day today! I am planning on it, counting on it, and hoping my wish will come true.

Today has been one of those days where everything that can go wrong has. Chapin took the day off to run errands and take care of some stuff we need and he was blocked at every turn. What a waste! He doesn’t get paid for days off so the fact that he hasn’t accomplished much just really adds to the frustration.

In the meantime, my boss is on my back and my irritable mood isn’t helping me get back on his good side. I’m hiding in a conference room at lunch because if I stay at my desk all of the attorneys suddenly come out of their offices and give me work, scheduled lunch hour or not. I can even have food and law books spread out in front of me and they still want me to drop it all and do whatever they need ASAP (usually something that involves going into their office or across the building for supplies or something — of course it’s never anything that will allow me to actually finish eating!). Can I just go back to bed and wake up on the other side tomorrow?!?

The most important appointment Chapin has today is this afternoon at USCIS to find out WTF is going on with his citizenship application. Hopefully tonight I can put up another post saying that mid-day was the turnaround point and that it was only good news from hereon out. Pretty please?

So I’ve spent all morning not reading my assignments for this week but instead doing practice exams I’ve found from other schools’ web sites (only the ones with model answers) for each of my classes. Last week I did a few but took my time. This week I tried ones that actually had time limits on them. Oh. So that’s why law school exams are difficult. Obviously I’m going to need to seriously revise my outline and get to the point in my notes or my 85wpm typing speed and ability to read really, really fast just won’t matter. Okay, so technically I did get through everything. But I didn’t have any time to review my answers or tighten up the phrasing. Two of my classmates agreed to do the online practice exams with me so we’re going to compare our experiences. I can only hope they had as much difficulty wrapping up as I did…

I woke up this morning and thought about how much I have to do (probably 75 pages of reading and a paper, to start with!) and realized I really need to stay offline while I study. It’s way too distracting and is definitely starting to cause an issue. Even more so when I wake up at 4 a.m. to study and decide to take “a few minutes” to check my e-mail and Bloglines. Next thing I know it’s 5:15 and I’m almost out of time before Pumpkinhead wakes up.

1 Who was your best friend?
We moved twice during high school. I would probably say Lance, Chris and then Ashante.

2 What sports did you play?
ROFL. Seriously. Ha, ha.

3 What kind of car did you drive?
I didn’t learn to drive until I was 19, at which point my first car was a white Dodge Spirit.

4 It’s Friday night, where were you?
Babysitting or at home reading.

5 Were you a party animal?
In my senior year of high school, I did go a bit wild.

6 Were you considered a flirt?
I liked to flirt and I flirted but I don’t think that the population at large would have called me a flirt, no.

7 Were you in band, orchestra, or choir?
Choir all the way. School choir and church choir.

8 Were you a nerd?
Yep, but the newspaper editor type, not the science type. I hung out with people I thought were fun but not an identified group of major nerds. Actually most of my high school friends were GLBT and those who weren’t apparently are now….

9 Did you get suspended/expelled?
Of course not!

10 Can you sing the fight song?
It’s called “Hail to the Falcons” but I can’t remember all of the words.

11 Who was your favorite teacher?
I had some fantastic teachers. My favorite was my 10th grade social studies teacher. He really brought the subject to life for me like no one had before. I gave him a card at the end of the semester telling him how much I’d enjoyed the class and he was so touched, saying no one had ever told him that before. I couldn’t believe it because I know all my friends liked him. Sadly he died of a brain tumor two years later.

I also had a great AP English teacher. She had long hair and wore long, flowing skirts and dresses – a real hippy. She was brilliant and insightful and just made every class a joy.

12 School mascot?
Falcon at first school and then a tiger at the second.

13 Did you go to Prom?
Yes, in 10th grade with a junior and then in my junior and senior years. Wore a beautiful crushed velvet green halter dress in 10th grade and then a long, flowing green Jessica McClintock gown junior and senior years (different schools).

14 If you could go back and do it over, would you?
Nope.

15 What do you remember most about graduation?
I didn’t go. I actually never even picked up my diploma. I did graduate and have the transcripts to prove it but since I moved during my junior year, I didn’t feel tied to the new school. I was so bummed when I realized couldn’t go to the high school reunion of my first school.

16 Where were you on senior skip day?
Every day was skip day at the inner-city high school from which I ultimately graduated.

17 Did you have a job your senior year?
I worked at a restaurant as a hostess until I turned 18, at which point I was legally allowed to serve. I also ended classes early (December) with only one AP class independent study so I could work full-time at a publishing firm from January through August (in addition to nights as a server).

18 Where did you go most often for lunch?
We weren’t allowed to leave campus. The “van man” actually sat at the end of the drive to make sure we didn’t go anywhere. I ate in the cafeteria. In my second school, I would eat in an empty classroom.

22 Who was your Senior prom date?
My best gay friend, Jay.

23 Are you going / did you go to your 10 year reunion?
See above about moving mid-HS. Couldn’t do the school I somewhat liked and wouldn’t do the short-term one.

24 Who was your home room teacher?
I think we had a new one every semester or at least every year. I just don’t remember.

25 Who will repost this after you?
I’d love to tag a few people but I’ll just go with anyone who thinks a walk down high school memory lane might be fun.