Ron Silver, RIP

Ron Silver, award-winning actor and frequent guest star on The West Wing, died yesterday at the age of 62.  Unmentioned in the obituary is how his West Wing character, Bruno Gemelli, had a mirror, left-to-right political shift to Silver's real life realignment. 

Prayers for him and his family.

Too Many Volunteers

Having been both an underutilized volunteer and a harried coordinator when more people than expected show up, I can relate, on some level, to both sides of the equation in this article on the influx of volunteers in the aftermath of the recession/the President's call for volunteers.  Particularly given the funding cuts at many non-profit agencies, it's understandable that many of the directors are struggling to best use the volunteers.  But as a volunteer coordinator, the attitude should be finding ways to say "Yes," rather than ways to say, off-the-record, "No."  After all, it might be a hard time to run a non-profit, but it's a harder time to rely on a non-profit's support.  

Where Are They Now?

Maurice Clarett, former Ohio State running back and briefly of the Denver Broncos, is blogging while serving a term in prison for a hold-up and police chase.   It's a pretty interesting read, revealing Clarett's own journey, presenting a look at life inside the prison system, and demonstrating new media's ability to share that information.

Lefty! Lefty! Part 2

Via bittman, NYTimes food writer, a National Geographic article that cites scientific research on the advantages and disadvantages facing lefties out there in the big, bad world.  There seems to be a bit too much talk of "mortal combat" for the 21st century (unless of course they meant Mortal Kombat), but it's good that they've reiterated the danger of serious accidents in this right-handed oriented world.   

Road Warriors

And I thought springtime baseball in Rochester was rough.  

Bloodletting in BigLaw (or, Lawyers are People, Too)

I understand that it can be hard sometimes to find sympathy for corporate lawyers, but waves upon waves of layoffs have rocked major law firms the past two weeks, with today bringing news of Latham and Watkins laying off 440 employees (190 associates, 250 staff), making it the largest layoff of its kind, according to industry blog Above the Law. The severance package is sizeable, to say the least, but the sheer size of the cuts--12% of associates, 10% of staff-- is eye-opening.  

One of the interesting trends that surfaces in this cut is the firm extending stipends for incoming associates to defer starting with the firm and work for community service organizations during the "gap year" in between 3L and the first year on the job.  Given the dire situation facing legal aid organizations and public defenders, one hopes that, if there is a silver lining to this recession, it's a renewed commitment to providing legal aid to those most in need.

Lefty! Lefty!

Story of my Little League career.   As it was, I seemed to prefer hitting it to left field, particularly as I got older, so they could shift all day.  

Can't wait for baseball season.

To Whom It May Concern:

Can we please arrange so that one of our players gets introduced like this on Saturday? I'm thinking Groove Theory could channel Jabbawockies.  All we need is a Shaqtus stand-in.  

Change We Can Believe In

Georgetown 65, South Florida 40.  So starts the 6-0 end to the season that will propel us to the tournament... right?

New Blogs, Please

Stumbling upon that marketing blog has also nicely broken up a bit of a Google Reader rut I had been feeling, something that coincides with this post from Andrew Sullivan.