Press

This has been a great series of articles about some of the issues the office runs up against.

Take your pick:

Stings Targeting the Homeless

Silly Pot Busts

Crime Against Nature

Spiders & the South

You know the urban legend about how you swallow seven spiders in your sleep over the average lifetime?
I think most places folks average 0 or 1... And the deep south brings up the average. There are so many spiders in my apartment! And strangely, I don't think I've seen the same kind twice. They also don't seem to bite. Which, you know, is a good characteristic of anything that tries to share my bed.

Today at TJ Maxx here, I saw a white teen wearing a shirt with a confederate flag on it, that said, "if this offends you, you need a history lesson." I am curious about the content of this lesson. And also wondering where they sell the complementary shirt, with a picture of that shirt on it that says, "if you wear this shirt in public, you need an ass-kicking."

New Orleans Culture in a Safe, Non-Threatening Environment

Lakeside Mall, Metairie, LA

Our Sworn Duty

“We, as criminal defense lawyers, are forced to deal with some of the lowest people on earth, people who have no sense of right and wrong, people who will lie in court to get what they want, people who do not care who gets hurt in the process. It is our job – our sworn duty – as criminal defense lawyers, to protect our clients from those people.”

Updates

Some are nerdy, some are not...
A writ I wrote last week for a 15 year old accused of armed robbery was granted, so that's like, we won. At least enough to get him sent back to juvenile court. Where, really, any 15 year old belongs.
Friday night I went out with office folks, a long happy hour and a bar and Soul Rebels, which is always fun. Lots of funny, drunkish conversations with lawyers and clerk and staff. Mostly worth waking up on Saturday, nearly afternoon, and feeling like warmed over spit. And it was raining, so I went to Batman. And, since the whole country saw it this weekend, you probably already know that it's awesome. My two-year relationship with a comic artist, and pressure from some of his super-obsessed friends to see and do everything DC/Marvel makes me a little hesitant about seeing super hero movies. But, I'll be damned, this is not the Hellboy II they would have made me see (let's be honest, I never would have seen it, but they would have given me a hard time).

Saturday night we basically ate all night, first sushi and beer, then tried to eat cajun food but were too full. So I went home with everyone's leftovers, which meant I was eating Alligator Cheesecake for breakfast (amazingly delicious) and eggplant bouillabaisse for lunch. I tried to go on a run Sunday morning, but it was already about 95 degrees at 10am... so it quickly turned into a long walk with iced coffee. That segued into some time reading the Jonathan Franzen book, The Discomfort Zone by the pool. And a sunburn that I wore to an evening in jail for First Appearances.

Suntans and Batman

Strange Day

Some time in jail, a hostile client, one with the most amazing name which for confidentiality sake I can't divulge... and one of the other law clerks here died this morning. Which makes for a strange feeling day. I am going to sleep a lot tonight.

Vacay!

I am in the airport, about to take a mini-break. A long weekend away from the Orleans Parish Sheriffs and crazy judges and miserable clients and all of that hotness and absurdity and inhumanity. My boyfriend and I are meeting my wife and her husband and our communal son (godson, kindnessson, real son, potayto, potahto) and family and friends for a weekend at the lake. I am excited and ready to be very happy.

Some thing else that recently made me very happy is this:

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Happy Belated Birthday, America.

I had a couple of blog subject I'd thought about. Driving along St. Charles the other night with a song playing where "New Orleans" was pronounced in that way that it rhymed with the rest of the words, "land of my dreams." Thursday night I met one of the Orleans Parish DAs at a bar. An article I saw about a kid getting in trouble for selling his vote on Ebay and someone quoted in it talking about how during prohibition, it was very common to sell ones vote for booze.
But the topic of this one is how scared I am getting about Barack Obama. Faith -based initiatives? No Child Left Behind? And now, Abortion?? Say it ain't so, Barry!
:-(

What the Eff?

I was at work for 13 hours yesterday, about 8 of those in magistrate court. One of the PD lawyers was held in contempt after she was appointed to someone on the spot and ordered to hold the trial right then. I left at 9pm, went directly to drink an enormous fruity fishbowl called a "mambo," went home and discovered I have On Demand. You win some, you lose some.