You Want To Be A Lawyer? Really?

Posted in Community ::: March 6, 2009 12:28 PM

This past week I was one of the presenters at the Rome Free Academy Career Day, where Juniors had a chance to visit with numerous area businesses and find out more about their respective careers.  This was the second or third time doing this for me and it was again enjoyable.  The folks at RFA, combined with the Rome Area Chamber of Commerce, had it well organized and running like clockwork.  And despite this profession eating you up and spitting you out on some (most?) days, I did my best to not discourage the students from considering it as their calling! Here are some random observations:

* You have to give out candy - without candy, you will have a very lonely booth.

*  The young people of today, for the most part, are definitely more aware of all that goes into a career than I was at their age. I fielded some pretty good questions on the cost of law school, the bar exam, difficulty starting out as a business owner, etc.  Pretty impressive. 

*  Rome Free Academy never ceases to impress me.  That place is nicer than both my college and law school were when I attended them.  Rome is fortunate to have that school and it was the right choice to build it. 

*  Despite being more aware of life in general, most of the students had as their impression of the law what they've seen on Law & Order.  It's not quite like that, suffice to say. 

*  I seem to be way more popular when I visit high schools now than when I was actually in high school, go figure!

All in all, it was a good expenditure of time and am happy that my office can give back as much as we do.  Onward. 

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Erin Hamlin Rocks!

Posted in Community ::: February 7, 2009 6:55 AM

 I think this quote sums it up nicely.  "In a part of the country and a time in the century when it seems like the only thing we get in the headlines is bad news, it will be nice to wake up in the morning and say 'At least we've got Erin Hamlin.'" - Syracuse University Professor of Popular Culture, Robert Thompson.  And that's exactly how I felt when I woke up this morning and learned that Remson's own Erin Hamlin won the Luge World Championships yesterday at Lake Placid with two first place, track record runs on Friday.  She is the first U.S. woman to win a world championship in Luge and only the second American to ever win a medal in luging, a sport dominated by Germans.  This 23 year old local girl, quite simply, rocked it.  She has now catapulted herself into being a favorite for the 2010 winter olympics.  But perhaps even more importantly, she has given this area something to cheer for.  When all we get is increased jobless rates and more business closings in the news lately, the idea of someone having worked their whole life for greatness and achieved it - well, that's a damn fine thing to see. Hmmm,  2010 Olympics in Vancouver - road trip anyone? 

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We've Come A Long Way.

Posted in Community ::: January 19, 2009 1:29 PM

It seems to me that there could not be a better celebration for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day than to be ushering in the swearing in of our nation's first African American President.  I think most would agree.  When Dr. King gave his famous speech, I wonder if even he dreamt of a man of Kenyan descent taking the Presidential oath of office.  No matter your politics, it shows that America is capable of some progress in the racial equality frontier.  That is a darn good thing no matter which lever you pulled in November.  So as Beyonce and Bruce are rocking out on Capitol Hill, take a little solace in the fact that no matter how many other troubles this country has these days, and they are aplenty, our country has evolved.  We may not be walking completely upright yet, but we are getting there.

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Rome is where the heart is.

Posted in Community ::: January 8, 2009 3:02 PM

There was a very interesting article just recently in the New York Time's travel section.  You can find it here: http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/12/26/travel/escapes/26Rituals.html

The sum and substance is that a NYC couple, in the wake of their disappearing 401(k)s, instead of traveling to Rome, Italy, decide instead to visit my hometown of Rome, New York.  Upon hearing that much of Rome's founding ancestry came over from Italy, the couple planned to encounter a piece of Old World Italy here in Upstate, New York.  Well, they didn't quite find that.  They came across some delights (Chicken Riggies, Gualtieri's Italian Market, St. Peter's Church, Tomato Pie) and some things they could have done without (Little Caesars, unremarkable buildings in Rome's Little Italy) but ultimately came to this conclusion - the town they expected was not the one they found and what they found was "an upstate town that didn't pretend to be more than it was."  That says a mouthful. 

Rome is a great place when it and its inhabitants are realistic about what it is and don't pretend it to be something it isn't.  Granted, Rome is a lot more than the authors of this article saw and I would relish the opportunity to show them more of it.  Yet, we aren't Boston.  We aren't New York City.  And we aren't Rome, Italy.  I've been to all three - we ain't them.  We are a clean, safe, small city where it is great to raise children and which contains some of the most down to earth and hard working people around.  We have all four seasons (boy do we) and are centrally located to lots of great places.  We are a small city that has done relatively well in the post-industrial and post air force base days but still have a long ways to go.  And that's what we are, nothing more and nothing less.  Let's not pretend otherwise - people will notice if we do.

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Implementing Change

Posted in Community ::: November 16, 2008 9:38 AM

I love this period of time when a newly elected President-Elect is getting his cabinet and staff members in place, it has that fresh feeling of Spring Training. What always amazes me is that incoming Presidents always seem to pick these DC re-treads, people, mainly men, that have been through prior presidencies.  As we speak Obama and Biden are filling the White House and Capitol Hill with those that have been around before and before and before. It  reminds me of the NFL when we see the same old coaches and the same quarterbacks bounce from team to team to team and somehow stay employed.  When I see Wade Phillips and Norv Turner still getting coaching opportunities and guys like Brad Johnson being second in line on the Cowboys, it never ceases to amaze me.  There isn’t anyone better than these guys around, that haven’t gotten a chance before? The same goes when I see Obama and Biden filling these positions with Clinton and Gore recyclables.  There is no young, brilliant hard charger that can do the job? Of course there is, but these choices are riskier.  They are going the safe route.  If you truly want to implement Change, I say, go the whole nine yards and really mix it up with some new blood in there.  They couldn’t do any worse.

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Historic Presidency

Posted in Community ::: November 8, 2008 9:36 AM

Let’s take a break from baseball and talk about our other national pastime - politics! History was made yesterday and Barack Obama became our nation’s first black President with an overwhelming majority of the electoral college. No matter what your political preference and no matter your feelings about this election, we should all agree that it was indeed historic.  Not just the facts that we would have had either a person of color or a woman as the Presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, both a first - or that Barack Obama ultimately won.  It’s way beyond that. This election changed how campaigns were run - technology was instrumental - millions were raised from individual donors, in small amounts, by Obama using the web. He got out his message via texting cell phones.  Moreover, voter turnout was huge and there were record numbers in first time voters, young people, etc.  All polls and indicators point to the fact that the youngest generation of adults, right now, is more globally aware and involved, than ever before. This election bore that out.  Now, if only this enthusiasm, this involvement, can transcend beyond this Presidential race and into Congressional races and state and local politics.  We need young people’s involvement and passion in all these areas, more so thane ever before, not just running for office but holding those in office accountable.  Where this all ends up will be very interesting indeed.

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